Canadians escape from Libya
Posted Feb 23, 2011 7:39 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Countries around the world, including Canada, are mobilizing various modes of transportation to get their citizens out of Libya.
The North African country has been rocked by anti-government protests for more than a week.
Human Rights Watch estimates more than 300 people have already been killed by Libyan government forces.
Ottawa expects Canada’s first evacuation flight will arrive Thursday in Tripoli where about 90 Canadians are anxiously waiting to get out.
Sheila Muirhead, who lives in Calgary, says her husband is stuck in a compound hundreds of kilometres away near Benghazi.
She hopes the federal government will eventually manage to get a rescue flight to that part of the country to save her husband and another 15 people he is stranded with.
Twenty-one countries, including Canada, are also talking with Turkey, which has been using ships to ferry its citizens out of Libya.
The U.S. is also using a ferry service to get Americans out, taking them to the island nation of Malta.
The UN Security Council is calling for an immediate end to the bloody crackdown in Libya and for steps to address what it calls the legitimate demands of the Libyan people.
Fears are also being expressed that embattled Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi might resort to chemical or biological weapons in an effort to continue his rein of more than four decades.
