CAIRO - At least 4,577 people, mainly migrant workers and some Libyan families, have been evacuated from the war-torn Libyan city of Misrata, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said. Despite the dangerous situation, the outflow is growing but consists mainly of foreigners and some Libyans, the IOM regional director in Cairo said. "In co-ordination with the Egyptian Foreign Ministry, the IOM has managed to evacuate 4,577 persons, who left Libya on board of rented ships," the director said. He said that the evacuees, who had left Misrata by sea, were given all the medical assistance and relief aid they needed . Roughly 7,660 migrant workers have left Libya between March 3 and April 24 for Egypt, the IOM official said, adding that some of them were mainly coming from Tripoli. They include workers from various countries who have decided to leave Libya after the violence, he said, adding that the IOM was working to help the evacuees return to their respective countries. He said that the IOM and the UN refugee agency had provided meals and shelter supplies to more than 11,800 migrants, who have been stranded in Beni Ghazi since the violence erupted last February. In the meantime, he continued, the IOM in collaboration with the Egyptian Red Crescent Society and Arab charity and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have provided more than 1,470 tonnes of relief aid and medical supplies to the stranded refugees over the past two months.
