DFA: 35 Pinoys leave Tripoli aboard chartered ship

An initial batch of 35 Libya-based Filipinos has boarded a ship that will take them out of strife-torn Tripoli, the Department of Foreign Affairs said early Friday. But DFA spokesman Raul Hernandez said the Filipinos, along with other foreigners, will have a 38-hour trip ahead of them from Tripoli to Benghazi. "Yung boat trip papuntang Benghazi ay 38 hours. From there, there will be another land trip that would take about eight hours, then depende sa mga flight schedule, doon malalaman kailan sila makakarating sa Pilipinas," Hernandez said in an interview on dwIZ radio. The boat taking foreigners out of Tripoli was chartered by the International Organization for Migration, he said. According to him, the Filipinos are to proceed by land to Egypt for repatriation to Manila. But he said some overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) could not be brought to the port where the IOM-chartered ship is waiting due to heavy fighting in Tripoli. An embassy team will attempt to fetch them for another boat trip possibly on Saturday, he said. In the meantime, he appealed to other OFWs in Tripoli to contact the embassy to arrange their repatriation. "Kung maari tumawag sila sa ating embahada sa Tripoli... Nakahanda na ang mga barko ng IOM. I think this will be on a day-to-day basis na may aalis na barko. Sana sumama na sila para sa kanilang kaligtasan at seguridad," he said. The Philippine government had raised the crisis alert level in Libya to "4," entailing mandatory evacuation and repatriation. Meanwhile, Hernandez reiterated:"Sapat ang pera natin sa repatriation, at kung kailangan magdagdag tayo, dadagdagan ng gobyerno yan." On the other hand, he declined to give a timetable of how long the fighting in Libya will last. He said that while reports indicate rebels had taken control of 80 percent of Tripoli, pro-Gaddafi forces are still putting up strong resistance. "The situation there is still fluid and we are looking after our OFWs' security and safety. That is why we have been encouraging them to avail of government's offer of repatriation," he said. — LBG, GMA News