25th Feb 11
Race to evacuate Britons from Libya
by Harry Oldfield
UK authorities are racing to rescue dozens of Brits from ongoing violence in Libya.
Dozens of Britons have been stranded by the violence sweeping Libya. The British government is racing get them out of the North African country as criticism mounts over the Foreign Office’s handling of the situation.
David Cameron was yesterday apologising for his government’s handling of the crisis. The Prime Minister’s comments came after a barrage of complaints about the government’s slow action and inadequate response.
The Foreign Office confirms that as many as 220 Britons could still be stuck in Libya. Fifty are believed to remain in Libya. The number of Britons still in the country’s remote oil-producing desert areas is put at between 150 and 170.
The SAS are reported to standing by for ‘emergency deployment’ in case they are needed to rescue citizens who cannot get out. Yesterday, a plane chartered by the Foreign Office returned to Gatwick with a number of Britons aboard.
Several of those who arrived back in the UK on the charter flight said the response by the Foreign Office had been ‘disastrous’. Saying they had waited 14 hours for the aircraft, they complained about having been hungry, wet and cold.
Though they said British embassy staff in Tripoli had been excellent but communication with London was a ‘fiasco’. One woman who had recently given birth got out of Libya one an Irish government jet. She and her family were evacuated to the Mediterranean island of Malta.
The Prime Minister said the situation had not been easy and that ministers would need to learn lessons from the experience. The Foreign Office says it helped 350 Britons get out of Libya yesterday. This total includes 79 people who left the country on a charter flight arranged by BP.
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