India joins Beirut sea evacuation India has diverted four of its warships to Beirut to evacuate Indian nationals who want to flee conflict in Lebanon.
An Indian embassy official said the Indian ships were in Lebanese waters and should reach Beirut on Thursday. There are an estimated 12,000 Indians in Lebanon. Sri Lanka, which has about 80,000 citizens there, is also trying to evacuate those who want to leave. Separately, Bangladesh has asked for help locating and evacuating its nationals stranded in the country. All diplomatic steps necessary for ensuring a safe berth for our ships have been taken Navtej Sarna, Indian foreign ministry Dhaka says there are at least 10,000 Bangladeshis in Lebanon. The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) says the figure could be much higher. IOM spokeswoman Jemini Pandya said many of those they are assisting are in difficult situations. "So far we have been asked to help about 300 Sri Lankans. Forty-six of them are in the Sri Lankan embassy, which is very close to a Lebanese military base, which is being bombarded all the time. "And the remainder are in a Caritas shelter... in the perimeter of a Beirut church and most of them don't have much food or shelter." Leaving by road An Indian embassy official in Beirut told the BBC that staff had already completed the paperwork to enable the Indian ships to dock. "We have already completed all the formalities with the local authorities and hopefully by tomorrow [Thursday] morning the first ship will enter Beirut port," the official, Tajinder Bakshi, said. He said the actual evacuation process could take up to three days. "There is a queue for berthing in Beirut because several nations are trying to evacuate their own people. So we have to wait our turn." In Delhi, Indian foreign ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna told journalists that "all diplomatic steps necessary for ensuring a safe berth for our ships have been taken". He said there was congestion in Beirut port and hoped the ships would berth over "the next day or so". India would consider requests to take Sri Lankans and Nepalis if there was space on board the vessels, he said. Mr Sarna said about 100 Indians had already left Lebanon for Syria and there were plans to evacuate 900-1,000 more Indians in the next few days. India's ambassador in Beirut, Nengcha Lhouvum, told the BBC on Tuesday that an estimated 12,000 Indians were living in the country. "Most of them are unskilled or semi-skilled labourers working in factories and industrial units," Ms Lhouvum added. Many of them have been living in Lebanon for more than two decades. Families of those working in the Indian embassy in Lebanon were among those evacuated. An Indian foreign ministry official in Delhi said those Indian nationals who were able to cross into Syria, had been advised to contact the embassy in Damascus, which is running a 24-hour helpline for advice and assistance. The Indian government is also in touch with the United Nations to find out the future of its peace-keeping mission stationed in Lebanon, which has more than 600 Indian soldiers in the war zone. The foreign ministry official said an Indian soldier had been wounded either by a stray Israeli shell ricocheting off a rock or by another unidentified object. A protest regarding the incident has been made to the Israeli government. Are you from South Asia and living in the region or do you know of anyone directly affected? Send us your experiences and please include a contact telephone number if you are willing to talk to us further. Name Your E-mail address Town & Country Phone number (optional): Comments Send pictures and moving footage to [EMAIL PROTECTED] or text them to 07725 100 100. Story from BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/south_asia/5191366.stm Published: 2006/07/19 16:10:36 GMT (c) BBC MMVI BOREM KORUM. Gabe Menezes. London, England _______________________________________________ Goanet mailing list Goanet@lists.goanet.org http://lists.goanet.org/listinfo.cgi/goanet-goanet.org