High seas off Tripoli delay US ferry evacuation
WASHINGTON—American nationals and other foreigners evacuating Libya have boarded a US-chartered ferry in Tripoli but their departure has been delayed by high seas, officials said Wednesday.
Countries and companies are scrambling to pull foreign citizens out of the fractured north African country amid widespread unrest as the increasingly isolated Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi clings to power.
“The ferry departure from Libya to Malta is delayed due to high seas. Citizens are safe on board. It will leave when the weather permits,” State Department spokesman Philip Crowley wrote in a Twitter message.
The ferry, chartered by the United States to evacuate embassy staff and other nationals due to the difficulty of organizing charter flights, can hold up to 575 passengers.
Crowley said at least 35 American diplomats or family members of diplomats were on board along with an unknown number of other US nationals and citizens of other countries.
Some 200 US nationals contacted the embassy seeking evacuation, the State Department spokesman said, adding that the Libyan authorities had been “cooperative” during embarkation at As-shahab port in central Tripoli.
“Our foremost concern has to be for the safety and security of our own citizens,” US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told a Washington press conference alongside a visiting counterpart from Brazil.
“We have taken the step of providing a chartered ferryboat today to take off not only all the Americans who could get to the ferryboat pier but also other nationals from other countries who we have offered to similarly take out of Libya,” she said.
“We urge Americans to depart immediately. If they need help, they should contact the embassy or go to our bureau of consular affairs website for information.”
Citizens would be required to reimburse the government at a later date for their transportation, the State Department said Tuesday.
Libyan authorities on Tuesday acknowledged 300 dead in unrest during the preceding week, but rights groups and former Kadhafi aides have warned the actual toll is far higher.
