ABOVE: Smoke above Tripoli, Libya, from fighting on July 24. Photo: AFP
Officials were asking for help to get 1,500 Thais out of Libya one day after they were supposed to be evacuated.
As the country slides back into chaos and workers seek to leave for the second time in three years, visa issues have prevented them from leaving as the junta announced Tuesday.
With Ramadan recently ended, Libyans are celebrating Eid ul Fitr, and no one’s available to mark the workers’ passports with exit stamps. Thai authorities today asked Libyan officials to waive the exit-visa requirements.
Originally they were to begin leaving the country yesterday overland to Tunisia before making their way to Thailand.
The Royal Thai Air Force has two C-130 transport planes standing by, but those could only hold several hundred passengers.
Some of the workers’ employers have suggested putting them on boats to the Greek isle of Crete, Bangkok Post reported.
Before the 2011 war in Libya, more than 20,000 Thai workers were in Libya working on projects throughout the country.
Heightened concern about the security of migrant Thai workers comes after one died in a mortar strike in an Israeli city near the fighting in Gaza.
Related:
Thais in Libya to be evacuated
