China Perspective

Plane carrying 10 Chinese returns from Libya

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-02-23 19:00

SOFIA - One Bulgarian, 70 Croatians, two South Koreans and 10 Chinese arrived in Sofia from the Libyan capital Tripoli on Wednesday.

Related readings:  Chinese embassy ready to help compatriots in Libya  China vows to protect citizens in Libya  UN Security Council to meet on Libya on Tuesday  Protests in Libya reach the capital, dozens dead

A 90-seat plane, operated by the Bulgarian Air Force, landed at the Sofia airport at 11:00 local time (0900 GMT).

"I am very grateful to the Bulgarian government for this gesture," Chinese Ambassador Guo Yezhou told reporters at the airport.

The 10 Chinese, who worked for a Beijing-based construction company, would fly directly from Sofia to Moscow with the assistance of the Chinese Embassy in Bulgaria.

More Chinese were waiting to be evacuated at the Tripoli airport, according to Bulgarians who came back with this flight.

Earlier on Wednesday, a government-chartered plane brought back 110 Bulgarians and six Romanians from Tripoli.

Inspired by protests in Tunisia and Egypt, Libyan protesters started to rally in streets last week in a bid to end Muammar Gaddafi's 41-year rule, plunging the North African country into chaos and bloodshed.