Irakleio.- (ΑΝΑ-ΜPA) — A Greek ferry boat arrived at the port of Irakleio on Crete on Saturday morning with another 2,800 third country nationals evacuated from strife-torn Libya. Most of the foreign nationals were identified as Chinese citizens. Several thousand Chinese nationals have already been ferried from Libya to Crete, where they are being hosted until their repatriation.

Another two vessels were scheduled to dock at the port of Irakleio on Saturday with more evacuees.

Meanwhile, the first flights to China carrying a total of 541 evacuees from Libya departed from Hania airport on Saturday afternoon.

According to the Chinese ambassador in Greece the massive repatriation effort to transport Chinese evacuees from Libya via Greece will take an estimated 10 days.

Main opposition New Democracy (ND) party leader Antonis Samaras, in a statement on Friday evening, condemns “unequivocally the unprecedented force to which the (Muammar) Gaddafi regime is resorting in its futile effort to stay in power.”

Samaras also expresses his solidarity to the “struggles of the citizens of Libya for Democracy and Social Justice” and calls on the government to “develop an active role, in the framework of the UN and the Euroatlantic institutions, for an end to the bloodshed and to undertake coordinated initiatives, both for the protection of the life and property of the Greeks remaining trapped in Libya, and for the prevention of a new immigration wave towards our country.”