Over 500 Pakistanis evacuated via special flight from Libya

Earlier, 2,000 Pakistani who were stranded in Libya were evacutated via land routes

ISLAMABAD: Over 500 Pakistanis, who were stranded in Libya, have been brought back through a special Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight, following the prime minister’s orders.

The Foreign Office said in a statement issued on Friday that over 2,000 Pakistanis had earlier been evacuated by land routes through neighbouring countries.

It said conducting this massive evacuation operation was a formidable task at a time when the security situation in Libya deteriorated sharply and many essential services become dysfunctional.

The statement added that it was only made possible by the exceptional cooperation among Pakistan's Embassy in Tripoli, PIA, the Aviation division, Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Furthermore, the FO set up a Crisis Management Cell Foreign to ccordinate the relief and evacuation operation, necessitated by the resumed in-fighting in Libya, which had an expatriate Pakistani community of around 18,000.

“A number of additional flights are being organised to evacuate thousands of stranded Pakistanis in Libya," the statement added.

“Over 1200 Pakistanis, mostly destitute, are currently housed at the relief camps set up by the Pakistan Embassy in Libya and the number was increasing by the day,” it concluded.

APP