Libya unrest: Two Air India flights leave to evacuate Indians

New Delhi, Feb 26 (ANI): India has begun the process of evacuating its nationals from strife-torn Libya by sending two aircraft with total capacity of 640 passengers to Tripoli besides dispatching four ships.

The specially chartered Air India Boeing 747, with a capacity of 360 passengers, and an Airbus 330 with a capacity of 280, are en route to Tripoli and will land shortly, the External Affairs Ministry (MEA) said in a statement here.

They will land at Terminal 2 of the Indira Gandhi International Airport.

Besides, two naval ships - INS Jalashwa and INS Mysore - set sail from Mumbai this morning for Libya. The sailing time is about twelve days to Libya.

Another passenger ship with a capacity of 1600, presently in the Mediterranean, is being chartered today and will be pressed into service for assisting the departure of our nationals out of Libya.

The Scotia Prince is scheduled to depart for Benghazi (Libya) from Port Said (Egypt) today at 8.p.m and is likely to arrive at its destination by Monday afternoon. The ship has a capacity of 1200 passengers.

The MEA said it has positioned additional personnel at the Indian Embassy in Tripoli to help in the process.

Currently, there are 18,000 Indians in Libya. (ANI)