The Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, Foreign Ministry and Ministry of Public Security are planning a relief operation to bring back Vietnamese workers from Libya as early as possible.
Nguyen Ngoc Quynh, head of the Overseas Labor Management Department, gave a statement to this effect at a press conference in Hanoi on February 24.
The relief plan also includes rescuing workers from the neighboring countries around Libya via land or sea route before flying them back home.
Mr. Quynh said that in order to speed up evacuation of workers from the neighboring countries of Egypt, Turkey, Malta and Tunisia, the three ministries have sent missions to these countries to coordinate with the Vietnamese representative agencies there.
The workers in these areas need assistance with organizational details before returning home.
Vietnam Airlines has planned to use its commercial airplanes or special aircrafts to fly home the stranded workers. If need requires the airlines will also charter flights to speed the workers safe return.
As many as 10,462 Vietnamese workers are presumably stranded in Libya after the violence broke. Over 400 of them have already arrived in bordering Egypt and 105 are on their way there.
The Vietnamese Embassy in Egypt has dispatched four staff members to the border area to receive them.
Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan, Minister of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs, told Vietnam News Agency yesterday that after violence broke, her ministry immediately coordinated with the Foreign Ministry and related agencies to keep a watchful eye on the situation through Vietnamese diplomatic agencies abroad and labor management boards in Libya .
A list of Vietnamese workers in Libya, with passport details and other information was handed to Vietnamese consulate agencies and embassies abroad to facilitate rescue operations.
The Foreign Ministry also worked with embassies of countries near Libya, asking them to help Vietnamese workers return safely to their country.
Foreign businesses employing Vietnamese workers made efforts to bring 2,000 Vietnamese workers to Libya’s neighboring countries en route to their return to Vietnam.
The Vietnam Construction Import-Export Corp, which deploys labor, told VNA that the first flight with 200 Vietnamese workers on board will arrive from Libya at Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi on Feb. 25.
The Vietnamese Ambassador to Libya, Dao Duy Tien, told VNA that Vietnamese citizens in Libya are all safe, though they are not going to work or school seeing the unstable situation. Most were facing difficulty in their daily lives but did not dare move outside their homes.
The Embassy is maintaining regular contact with Vietnamese companies in Libya and monitoring the welfare of Vietnamese workers.
The embassy is also working with local agencies and foreign companies employing Vietnamese workers, ensuring their safety and providing relief measures where necessary.
The Ambassador also stated that on the afternoon of Feb. 23, companies of the Republic of Korea, Brazil and Turkey had helped to move some groups of Vietnamese workers out of Libya to Vietnam.
