2 more special AI flights from Libya return with 557 Indians

New Delhi, Mar 1 (PTI) A total of 557 Indians returned
home in two batches by air from strife-torn Libya in the wee
hours today taking to 1,083 the total number of people
evacuated so far by the four Air India special flights.
The fourth Air India flight( AI-170) landed at
Terminal 2 of Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) here
at around 4:30 am (IST), bringing 331 passengers, an airport
official said. The plane took off from Tripoli airport at
around 8:30 pm IST.
The third special flight with 226 Indians on board
arrived in the Capital a little earlier at around 1:30 am from
the north African nation, Indian Minister for Civil Aviation
Vayalar Ravi said.
Ravi, also the Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs,
received the passengers of the third special flight, an Airbus
330, at Terminal 2 of the IGI Airport.
The AI-800 was originally a Jeddah-Mumbai flight, but
it was converted into a special ferry aircraft and diverted to
Tripoli to evacuate Indians who are stranded in Libya, which
is rocked by massive anti-government protests that has left
around 1,000 persons dead.
Three more planes -- two Boeing 747-400 and Airbus
330 -- left this morning for Tripoli to airlift Indians who
are still there.
Ravi said 1,100 people have been evacuated from
Benghazi and ferried by a ship to Alexandria in Egypt.
"Out of 18,000 Indians, 10,000 are stranded in
Tripoli," he said.
One of the passengers of the fourth flight Dinesh
Kumar Sahni, working in Libya with a construction firm for two
years, said "Situation in Libya is not good. The condition in
Tripoli during day is normal, but it is not safe to venture
out in night."
But for Dinesh Diwedi, who is living in Libya for 27
years and presently working with the country's National Oil
Corporation, "life is normal". He claimed that "no Indian was
harmed", but feared "situation may get worse."
The first two special Air India planes had brought
back 526 Indians.
While the first flight evacuated 291 Indians from
Libya and brought them back here on Saturday night, another
Air India plane carrying over 235 people landed in the wee
hours of Sunday.
Ravi praised the efforts of Indian embassy officials
in Libya for helping Indians in getting out of the country and
said his ministries are working in co-ordination with other
ministries for evacuating Indians from Libya.
"We are committed to bring back all the Indians
stranded in Libya," he added.
With Government intensifying the evacuation drive,
nearly a third of 18,000 Indians in Libya would have been
evacuated through air and sea by Wednesday.