180 Pakistanis stranded in Libya return home

Around 8,000 Pakistanis stranded in Libya have been evacuated through 13 special and chartered flights

ISLAMABAD: A special flight carrying 180 Pakistanis, who had been stranded in war torn Libya, touched down in Lahore early on Wednesday morning, Express News reported.

According to the Ansar Burney Trust, most of those evacuated on Wednesday had been trafficked to the north African country.

Another group of 180 Pakistanis mostly trafficked to Libya, reached Lahore Airport early Morning Wednesday: Ansar Burney Trust

— Ansar Burney (@AnsarBurney) November 4, 2014

8,000 stranded nationals evacuated from Libya

Earlier on Tuesday, the Pakistani ambassador to Libya said that around 8,000 stranded Pakistanis from the war torn country.

Ambassador Lt Gen (r) Javed Zia on Tuesday said that 13 special flights had helped evacuate the stranded nationals.

The Pakistan government had started an evacuation operation on August 14, 2014, starting special and chartered flights to evacuate stranded Pakistanis in Libya.

Between 6,000 and 8,000 Pakistanis out of an estimated 18,000 living in Libya had been stranded, according to a report. Pakistan had even sought help from the International Labour Organisation in evacuating nationals.

The government had also created a crisis management cell at the ministry of foreign affairs to monitor the evolving security situation in Libya and to coordinate efforts for evacuation of Pakistanis.

The cell was created after the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif directed the ministry to facilitate the evacuation of Pakistanis from Libya.