New Delhi: The Ministry of External Affairs has started the process to evacuate about 18,000 Indians stranded in strife-torn Libya. A passenger cruise ship has been stationed close to Libyan waters in order to ferry people across to Egypt.
India is waiting for permission from Libya to dock ships and allow planes to land at its airports. Air India planes have been put on stand-by to fly Indians out of Egypt.
"In a coordination meeting just held we were able to move very concretely towards finalisation of arrangements that would be required for evacuation. As you know this will be quite a mammoth operation. We will have to not only put in place the arrangements for aircraft and ships as the case may be but also to obtain permission from the Libyan authorities," said Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao.
Libya had on Tuesday refused permission to Turkey to land its plane.
According to reports, more than 300 people have been killed so far in the brutal crackdown against protesters demanding an end to Muammar Gaddafi's 41-year rule in Libya.
The magnitude of the evacuation process also depends upon on how many out of the 18,000 people would like to return to India, they said.
The death of an Indian national from Tamil Nadu in Libya, meanwhile, gave some anxious moments to authorities in New Delhi but it turned out he died in a road accident and not in firing during the violence as claimed by the family of the deceased Murugaiah.
An External Affairs Ministry spokesman said that according to the Indian Embassy in Tripoli, a group comprising three Indians and two Egyptians were trying to cross over to Egypt by car from Tobruk (a city in north-eastern Libya) on night of February 19 when their car was involved in a head on collision. The three Indians suffered serious injuries.
"They were admitted to Al Vatnam Medical Centre in Tobruk. A number of Indian nurses are now also working at the Centre. Murugaiah reportedly succumbed to his injuries yesterday. The other Indian nationals are still in the hospital and recuperating. The Mission is in regular touch with the Medical Centre," he said.
"As such, the story of Murugaiah's death being the result of firing appears to be incorrect," he said.
Claiming that her husband, Murugaiah, a contract worker employed with a Korean company, has been killed and another seriously injured in gunfire, Vellathai, along with local panchayat chief, presented a petition to Tirunelvelli District Collector in Tamil Nadu.
Vellathai sought steps by government to locate and retrieve her husband's body and arrange for bringing it back to their village.
Indian Ambassador to Libya M Manimekalai said the Embassy has informed the MEA about the "background" of the case that it was not a bomb blast but he was killed in an accident.
Official sources said about 200 Indian nurses are working at the Bengagi Medical Centre in Libya and all of them are safe and performing their normal duties.
As a fallout of the Libyan crisis crude oil prices have reached a two and a half year high, hitting $95 a barrel. Brent crude hit a high of $108 a barrel.
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