VietNamNet Bridge
– “Over 6000 Vietnamese in Libya
have been evacuated to the third countries, 2800 of them have arrived home. At
this moment, there are no reports about injuries of Vietnamese workers in Libya,”
said Minister of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan on
March 2.

The Minister said that by March 2 afternoon, 6,196
Vietnamese workers left Libya.
Around 2800 people arrived in Vietnam
by the end of March 2. Of more than 3000 people who are still in Libya, 1123
have been on board of ships to evacuate to neighboring countries, over 1400 on
the way to the Egypt-Libya border, another 1000 on the road from Tripoli to
Tunisia-Libya border. Vietnam’s
mission based in Tunisia is
seeking to approach Tripoli
to evacuate Vietnamese workers.

According to Ngan, there are around 200 Vietnamese still
stuck in Libya.
These people work for small enterprises owned by Libyans. They have contacted
the Vietnamese Embassy. They were told to stay at a fixed address to be
evacuated as soon as possible.

“We have not received any report of injuries for Vietnamese
workers in Libya.
The situation is less tense than several days ago. The government has exerted
effort to save trapped workers,” Minister Ngan said.

She said the remaining workers will be brought home as soon
as possible, by Vietnam Airlines aircrafts or commercial crafts hired of
partners. Workers have been supplied with cooking and warm clothes.

The Minister said that Vietnam
planned to hire military aircrafts to evacuate Vietnamese workers, but at the
moment military aircrafts cannot land in Tripoli.

Returned workers have been granted VND2 million each from a
government fund and labor exporting firms as traveling expenses.

The government will help over 10,000 workers from Libya to seek new jobs and to deal with their
debts because many people borrowed money from banks to cover the fees for their
trips to Libya.

Nguyen Quoc Nam,
an official from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Hanoi, IOM’s office and two missions in Egypt and Tunisia
have combined to assist around 3000 Vietnamese at the borders between Libya and Egypt,
Tunisia.

At the Tunisia-Libya border, around 2000 Vietnamese are now
in camps of IOM. They are supplied with food and healthcare, Nam said.

According to Nam,
Vietnam doesn’t have
representatives in Tunisia.
Once Vietnam sends its
mission to Tunisia to
discuss with Tunisia, IOM
will help bring Vietnamese workers from the border to Tunisia’s capital.

There are also thousands of Vietnamese at the Egypt-Libya
border, Nam
said. IOM has cooperated with the Vietnamese mission and the Vietnamese Embassy
in Egypt
to assist these people. The first 24 workers arrived at Tan
Son Nhat
Airport on March 2 evening from Cairo Airport.

PV