23,000 Thais prepare to escape Libya turmoil

The Labour Ministry is preparing to evacuate more than 23,000 Thai workers from Libya if the situation worsens.

Ministry spokesman Sutham Natheethong said the ministry was working closely with the Foreign Affairs Ministry to assist Thai workers in the violence-plagued country.

The ministry's plan is incrementalbecause the large number of workers involved has made it difficult to move all of them out of Libya immediately.

Mr Sutham said there were 2,000 Thai workers in Benghazi and 10,000 in Tripoli _ the centres of the unrest. Other Thai nationals are working in the cities of Kufra, Surt and Brak, which are far from the centres of unrest.

The Thai government has informed all workers to prepare their passports and personal belongings for the evacuation. Mr Sutham said the government was ready to provide assistance to Thai workers within two hours in the case of an emergency.

Officials originally planned to evacuate workers in Benghazi, which is near an airport, by plane. But the airlift was cancelled because Libya has closed its airspace.

Thai workers in Tripoli, a port on the Mediterranean Sea, will be asked to move to Malta and countries in Africa where they can be picked up by ship.

Workers in other cities will be asked to travel overland to Tunisia.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said yesterday the cabinet had assigned Deputy Prime Minister Trairong Suwannakhiri to coordinate assistance for Thais in Libya.

Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya said he had discussed the assistance plan with his Asean counterparts.

Most of the Thai workers are safe and plans are under way to evacuate those in dangerous areas.

The minister said he had instructed Thai embassies in Libya, Greece and Italy to prepare for the evacuation.

The deputy chief of the Foreign Ministry's Information Department, Jesda Katavetin, said embassies in Italy and Greece were preparing to send ships to Sicily and Malta.

The Foreign Ministry and the Labour Ministry have exchanged information on the evacuation plan with ambassadors from Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Morocco and Turkey, each of which also has a number of their nationals working in Libya.