All Thais in Libya evacuated home, body of Thai worker killed near Gaza Strip arrive in Thailand

BANGKOK, July 28 (TNA) - Authorities concerned are evacuating all Thai nationals in war-torn Libya back home through Tunisia, as ordered by the army-led National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), while the body of a Thai worker killed recently near violence-riddled Gaza Strip has arrived in Thailand. Deputy Permanent Secretary for Foreign Affairs Nuttavudh Photisaro told journalists on Monday that Thai Army and NCPO Chief General Prayuth Chan-ocha has issued the order for safety of all the 1,500 Thai nationals in Libya. Thai Ambassador to Libya Kittipong Na Ranong reported that months-long battles have made Tripoli, Libya's capital, the most dangerous area, where 11 Thai students live. Kittipong noted that the evacuation will begin with the students and 30 other Thai people staying around Tripoli's closed airport. The top Thai envoy said the second group to be evacuated from Libya will be 70 Thai people in Benghazi, while the rest of all Thai people will then be completely evacuated within 48 hours. According to the top Thai envoy, all the Thai people evacuated from Libya will be first accommodated in Tunis and Djerba in Tunisia, which are about 150 kilometers or about two hours away from the Libyan border, before being flown back to Thailand. The decision is based on the possibility that violence will be prolonged in Libya, while officials of the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Department of Employment, under the Ministry of Labour, and military doctors are facilitating the evacuation. The deputy permanent secretary for foreign affairs acknowledged that continual fighting might prompt the temporary closure of the Thai Embassy to Libya, after Japan and the United States have done so, and that families of Thai Embassy officials in Tripoli have already evacuated, while the officials, themselves, will be the last group of Thai people to leave Libya. The director-general of the Department of Employment will discuss assistance for Thai workers in Libya with the executives of 11 job placement firms on July 30. Meanwhile, the body of a 36-year-old Thai worker, Narakorn Kittiyangkul, who was killed by a rocket fire from Gaza Strip into an Israeli border area on July 23, arrived at Thailand's main Suvarnabhumi International Airport on Monday afternoon, before being transported by land to his home province of Nan in the Thai North for funeral, with his family initially given 40,000 baht-financial assistance from the Thai Ministry of Labour. His sister passed a message to Thai workers to carefully consider before leaving for working overseas, especially in areas at risk. (TNA)