CYPRUS: International evacuees from Lebanon continue to arrive at refugee camps in Larnaca

Evacuations from Lebanon to Cyprus continued on Friday (July 28) although the operation appeared to be slowing down despite thousands still trapped in the war-torn country. Some 40,000 people originating from countries around the world have now been evacuated to Cyprus from Lebanon, according to EU officials. Canada, with one of the largest populations of its citizens in Lebanon when fighting began, estimated at 37,000, shuttled more people into Cyprus' southern Larnaca port and officials said evacuations were expected to continue for another week. Some 700 people, mainly Canadians of Lebanese origin, disembarked from the commercial ship Princessa Marissa after arriving in the middle of the night along with other nationalities. Thousands of Canadians have already arrived in Cyprus and 2,350 Canadians have passed through Turkey. Large campgrounds used as a transit point in Larnaca have filled up as officials work out the logistics of flying out each country's nationals on specially chartered flights from the island's small airport. Exhausted and stressed under the sweltering Cyprus heat, many slept on the hundreds of campbeds placed in one of Larnaca's basketball stadium being used as a makeshift camp. Cyprus has managed not to buckle under the pressure of moving and hosting several thousand people from Lebanon in the midst of the tourist season. The United States, also with one of the largest populations in Lebanon has evacuated some 12,600 Americans, with the last scheduled ship departure expected next week. The U.S. Embassy believes most American citizens who wished to depart have now done so. It is believed that many nationals have chosen to stay in Lebanon as ships have slowed their schedules and are carrying a few hundred on each shuttle as opposed to thousands when the evacuations began over a week ago. The focus of the international relief operation has shifted from handling evacuations to sending humanitarian aid to the estimated 800,000 Lebanese displaced by the violence. Exhausted evacuees, many of Lebanese origin, have told of "horrific bombing" when arriving on ships in Cyprus. Nationals from South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia have been taken out with the use of military vessels and commercial ferry boats over the week. The European Union has said Cyprus should be prepared for a worsening humanitarian crisis in Lebanon despite fewer evacuees fleeing to the island to escape the war. Fears are now of displaced Lebanese nationals fleeing to Cyprus to escape the bombing.

ITN Source | July 29, 2006

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