CAIRO - About 55 EgyptAir transport planes have brought home 13,000 Egyptian expatriates from various Libyan cities on Monday night, Cairo airport officials said Tuesday. The flights brought home 13,000 expatriate workers, who had been stranded in Libya following the uprising, the officials said, adding more than 48 EgyptAir aircraft will be sent bring home more than 14,000 Egyptians, who are still stuck the Libyan cities of Tripoli, Sert, Sabha, as well as Tunisia and Algeria. "Fifty five passenger have successfully evacuated around 8,700 civilian Egyptians from multiple locations in Libya and brought them home on Monday night," they said. More than 48 planes are expected to arrive in Libya, Tunisia and Algeria shortly to fly home 14,000 Egyptians, they added. The Government said that two Egyptian navy ships had already set sailed for Tunisia to to pick up about more Egyptian civilians, who arrived in the North African country after fleeing Libya after the fighting broke out. Meanwhile, The Egyptian Gazette received a news release from the Cairo-based office of the International Committee of the Red Cross saying that ICRC is calling for immediate and safe access to western Libya following two weeks of unrest in the country. "This crisis has been going on for 14 days. It's high time, and absolutely vital, that the needs of people affected are met. We call on everyone taking part in the violence to respect the right of the wounded and sick to seek medical care, and to ensure that humanitarian assistance is able to reach those in need," said the ICRC's director general, Yves Daccord, yesterday. It said that the ICRC had emergency team that includes surgeons and nurses, as well as medical supplies, on the Tunisian border waiting to enter western Libya as soon as security conditions permit. Another emergency team, which also includes medical staff, is already at work in hospitals in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi. "On the Tunisian side of the border, the ICRC has helped around 750 people who fled Libya to contact their families in recent days. Meanwhile, volunteers and staff from the Tunisian Red Crescent have been working around the clock to help those who have crossed into their country. On the Egyptian side, the ICRC also continues to support the country's Red Crescent society," it added. So far, in total, the ICRC has mobilised around 50 emergency specialists to respond to the diverse needs arising from the unrest.
