All Indians safe, one rescue ship on way to Libya: Krishna

Mtoday news

New Delhi, Feb 23 :Amid deteriorating situation in Libya, Government today said it was ready to evacuate all the 18,000 Indians there and the first naval ship has already reached Egypt on way to Libya.

 

External Affairs Minister S M Krishna said the government was closely monitoring the situation in Libya as also Bahrain and Yemen and inter-ministerial meetings have been held to take stock of the situation in the region.

Replying to clarifications by members in Rajya Sabha, he said that the Government is "not charging anybody" for evacuation.

Making suo motu statement in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha and replying to clarifications, Krishna said all Indians in Libya are "safe as of now".

"We will do everything that is possible to evacuate all Indians safely," Krishna said.
Listing the steps taken by the government to evacuate the Indians, he said that one ship has already arrived at Egypt and it would be reaching Libya to bring back Indians.

He also said as one ship could carry about 800-1,000 people, the Government would have to think of a large scale operation than merely sending two ships. "Ships are being lined up for evacuating them."

Krishna, however, did not given any time frame for bringing back all Indians, saying, "It is an extremely difficult proposition to spell out time frame."
But, he quickly added that the Government would take every step to bring them back at the "earliest possible time".

Earlier, BJP member Tarun Vijay had raised this issue saying Indians evacuated from Egypt were made to pay double the normal air fair.