CYPRUS: Evacuees from Lebanon arrive in Larnaca awaiting travel onwards

Britain's High Commissioner for Cyprus said on Tuesday (July 18) the evacuation of nationals from Lebanon was a massive international effort that should be carefully undertaken, causing some evacuation plans to take a slow pace. Peter Millet, British High Commissioner for Cyprus, said the massive international effort by several countries was a time consuming process that required the necessary measures for security reasons. "This is an inherently risky operation, and we need to do it in a safe way," Millet told Reuters TV. Millet said numerous countries were involved in the operation of sharing information that required the coordination of charter and military flights and ships. Many British citizens still remain in Lebanon with only 40 people evacuated to Cyprus through military helicopters in the last few days. Officials said efforts were now underway to bring out a large group of UK citizens with the use of a military vessel. Evacuations from other countries started as early as last Thursday (July 13). France already chartered a cruise ship to evacuate its nationals which will make repeated trips to Lebanese ports for the several thousand French who live or visit the country. Most other countries have also made arrangements by land, air or ship. Millet said the exact number of evacuees that had passed through Cyprus were not clear but were over one thousand. The main problem, he reiterated, was safety. But tensions are beginning to run high for evacuees who face 8-11 hour ferry boat or military ship trips from Lebanon's coast to Larnaca port in Cyprus, in cramped quarters with little food or comfort. Then the waiting begins at Larnaca's swamped airport, where a flurry of embassy officials organise nationals on special emergency charter flights, often taking several hours. Some must stay in hotels until they are booked on a flight home, some even stay in the ships that bring them until they are placed on a list of departures. Belgians, French, Danish, Swedish, German, almost all European nationalities are included in daily lists of evacuees from the airport once they arrive on the island, but many said they are suffering from exhaustion and their embassy officials not speeding up the process. Many families waited in the harsh humidity in Nicosia on Tuesday afternoon with several exhausted children. Many, including several Lebanese citizens who were evacuating, were already overwhelmed by anger and grief over the bombing of Lebanon that the toll of waiting was even worse. "We are totally, totally tired," said Nisreen Samaha from Bekaa in Lebanon. British forces on the island which are helping to facilitate the evacuations of various nationals besides the British said all parties were trying to make the turnaround as swift as possible so as not to create a 'refugee' style situation on Cyprus. He said the island's infrastructure would not be able to handle a massive influx and needing swift coordination so as not to become a burden on the tiny island. But airports, and hotels were already feeling the weight, and several more ships were expected in the next few days.

ITN Source | July 19, 2006

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