5,000 will be evacuated from rebel-held town on chartered ships
The U.K.’s Department for International Development (DFID) will accept 5,000 migrant workers and their families from the war-battered Libyan town of Misrata, DFID Secretary Andrew Mitchell said on Monday. Aid workers and residents in Misrata say the situation is becoming increasingly “dire,” with shortages of food, power, water and medicine being reported as pro-Gadhafi forces continue shelling the city. The U.K. will pay £1.5 million to charter ships to evacuate migrants from the rebel-held town and provide them with medical care. Two boatloads of migrants have already been evacuated. DFID officials say about 300 civilians have been killed and 1,000 injured in Misrata since late February.