Tripoli, Febraury 25: A chartered flight arranged by the federal government to airlift some stranded Canadians attempting to flee the ongoing violence in Libya arrived in Tripoli Friday morning.
But it was unclear when the Skylink plane from Amman, Jordan was expected to leave the North African country’s capital and how many Canadians would be on board the flight.
On Thursday, Foreign Affairs Lawrence Cannon confirmed that Prime Minister Stephen Harper had also diverted a C-17 aircraft, which can carry 156 passengers, to assist with the evacuation.
Government sources told that the C-17, which originated in Germany, will wait in Rome for Libya to issue diplomatic clearances before flying to Tripoli. No military personnel are on board.
Gov. Gen. David Johnston’s plane is also in Rome, and is an option as well, Cannon said. The Governor General is on his way to visit Kuwait and Qatar.
Cannon confirmed Thursday that up to 200 Canadians have been able to escape — or were about to escape — the country, which has been racked by violence as fighting has increased between anti-government protesters and Gadhafi supporters.
Cannon told the news conference in Rome that 74 Canadians managed to get to London, 35 to 40 went to Madrid, and 18 were safe in Malta. Dozens more were about to be evacuated on planes and boats, he said.
Cannon said they had arranged for the transport of Canadians on a number of flights and boats chartered by allies including the U.S., the United Kingdom and Spain.
“We are co-ordinating with our allies to get Canadian citizens out. We are doing everything possible to ensure that we can get Canadian and chartered aircraft in to make that happen.” With the situation deteriorating rapidly, Cannon urged all Canadians to leave Libya.
Foreign Affairs officials are still working on plans to evacuate Canadians from Benghazi in the east of Libya.
Foreign Affairs has said 351 Canadians are registered with the embassy in Tripoli and at least 213 have said they want to leave the country.
Countries such as India, France, Turkey, Serbia and Egypt are also scrambling to get their citizens out of the country. Egyptians form the largest group of foreigners in Libya.
—–Agencies—-