The last Vietnamese guest workers at fighting zones in strife-torn Libya have moved out of dangerous areas, Foreign Ministry spokesman Le Hai Binh said on August 14, citing the source of information from the Vietnamese Embassies in Libya, Egypt, and Turkey.

Updating the media on the evacuation work at the ministry’s regular press conference, Binh said that as of August 13, 907 workers landed Vietnam while 294 others are in Libya’s neighbours of Tunisia, Turkey and Egypt.

Over the past days, the ministry directed Vietnamese representative offices in France, Germany, Qatar, Malaysia, Egypt and Algeria to promptly work with host authorised agencies to support the workers’ transit before flying home, Binh said.

The Foreign Ministry, the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, Vietnamese representative offices in the countries involved, export companies, and employers are keeping a close watch on the situation as well as close contact with the Vietnamese workers, while actively coordinating with host authorities to provide maximum support for their departure, he added.

Vietnamese workers flea Libya by land route

As many as 92 Vietnamese workers were evacuated from the Libyan capital city of Tripoli and neighbouring areas by road to Tunisia via the Ras Ajdir border gate on August 13.

According to Vietnamese Ambassador to Lybia Dao Duy Tien, they were divided into 3 groups and transported the 200 kilometres to the Ras Ajdir border gate in automobiles over a land route.

The Vietnamese Embassy in Libya sent two staff to facilitate their entry into Tunisia.

Subsequently they were transported to Tunis and Djerba airports where they are scheduled to take commercial flights to Vietnam from August 14-16.

Vietnamese Embassy Second Secretary in Egypt Tran Tam Anh said a second group of 33 Vietnamese workers have also been authorised entry to Egypt via the Salloum border gate.

A team from the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs would help the workers to deal with administrative procedures to help them return home soon.

Statistics from the Department of Overseas Labour show that so far, 907 Vietnamese workers have returned to Viet Nam from Libya, while 294 others have reached Tunisia, Turkey and Egypt safely and are waiting to fly back home.

The department said that about 1,750 Vietnamese labourers were working in Libya at the end of July.

Returnees from Libya to receive aid

The Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs stated that the Government has approved a proposal to offer financial aid for Vietnamese laborers returning from Libya.

Accordingly, the ministry will support the workers in buying air tickets to come back home in case of their employers’ failure to pay, and give money for employees who had worked there prior to July 15.

Particularly, laborers working less than three months will receive VND5 million while VND3 million will be given to those working from 3 to 6 months.

Those who had worked longer in Libya will receive less. In specifics, the Government will offer VND2 million and VND1 million for employees who worked from 6-12 months and more than 12 months respectively.

Decision 1012/QD-LDTBXH issued by the labor ministry on Monday clarifies that depending on specific working time, workers in poor districts to be evacuated from Libya will get an additional 50% of the above aid, taking the total amount to VND7.5 million for each worker.

Nguyen Ngoc Quynh, head of the Overseas Labor Management Agency under the labor ministry, said there were 1,750 Vietnamese working in Libya. The companies sending these people to this foreign market have planned to bring all employees back home.

SGT/VNA/VOV