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26 Feb 2011 8 Comments

TCG Iskenderun in Benghazi. Courtesy of Turkish General Staff

Today, on 26 February2010, frigate F-245 TCG Oruçreis and ferry TCG Iskenderun leftBenghazi with 1738 people on board.

TCG Oruçreis has 210person, 122 Turkish 90 from USA, Bosnia, Poland, Serbia, Macedoniaand Romania.

TCG Iskenderun has 1528person on board, 1099 Turkish, 427 from Vietnam, Bosnia, Macedonia,South Korea, Serbia, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Poland, Syria, Tunisia,Jordan, Morocco, Thailand, USA, Philippines, Iraq, Pakistan, India,Italy, Canada, Libya, Lebanon, United Kingdom, Romania and Algeria.

Both ships left Libya inthe morning. They are expected to arrive in Marmaris on 28 February,Monday, in the morning.

TCG Oruçreis in Benghazi. Courtesy of Turkish General Staff

It is not clear at the moment whether the other Turkish frigate in the region are going to embark passengers too.

In the meantime civilian ferries M/F Ankara and M/F Samsun have resumed their journey towards Libya after the gale in the Mediterranean has weakened. They are expected to arrive in Libya tomorrow.

The fast ferries M/F Orhan Gazi and M/F Osman Gazi are still in Marmaris waiting for the dispatch order.

On 25. and 26. February most of the evacuation from Libya was done by airplanes. Turkish Airlines continues its normal scheduled flights to Tripoli. But the company also dedicated numerous planes for chartered flights and Egypt were many has arrived on land routes.

Turkish Air Force is helping the evacuation from Libya. Since 24 February more than 1500 people have been flown out of Libya on C-130 Hercules and C-160 Transall cargo planes.

UPDATE: The fast ferries M/F Osman Gazi and M/F Orhan Gazi left Marmaris shortly after midnight and are heading towards Libya.