February 27, 2011 9:36 AM

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More than 500 Indians stranded in Libya airlifted to New Delhi

528 Indians have been airlifted from Tripoli, capital of the strive torn Libya in the massive evacuation operation. These Indians reached New Delhi by two Air India flights till this morning. The evacuation started yesterday. Minister of State for External Affairs E. Ahmed and Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao received the passengers. Our correspondent reports that the government has made elaborate arrangements at the airport to help the passengers. Those who wanted to stay in National Capital have been provided with the lodging and boarding facilities and those who wanted to go to their home state have been provided facilities for the same. All the services have been provided for free. Apart from the officials of the Ministy of External Affairs, Resident Commissioners of 12 states were also present at the airport to help the passengers. Meanwhile, three naval warships have also set sail for Malta yesterday. While INS Jalashwa and INS Mysore left from Mumbai, INS Aditya set sail from Karwar. The Naval ships will transport more than 1,000 Indians back home and will also provide security during evacuation operations. The ships will evacuate Indian nationals from Libya to either Malta or Egypt, from where they will be transferred by air to India. A passenger ship setting sail for Libya's second largest city Benghazi today. The ship expected to return with Indian evacuees to Alexandria in Egypt today. Two more ships are also being pressed into service and one military aircraft is also being sent to Egypt to bring back a group of 90 Indians who crossed over by road from Libya. There are a total of 18,000 Indians in Libya. In a related incident, another Indian casualty has been reported in the country. One Ashok Kumar passed away in Tobruk city. He was among the five Indians hurt in a road accident while fleeing the country.

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