According to a source on location, A-1600 TCG İskenderun left Mersin this morning and is heading to Libya, to pick up the trapped Turkish citizens.
It is estimated that there are 25.000 Turkish citizens in Libya currently mostly working at the projects of the Turkish construction companies.
The daily Hürriyet reported that till yesterday, 581 Turkish citizens have returned to Turkey by air. Libyan civil aviation authority did not gave landing permission to a THY plane on route to Benghazi an the plane had to return to Turkey this morning.
There are no official announcements neither from Turkish General Staff nor from Turkish Navy about the departure of TCG İskenderun yet.
She is a car ferry built in Camialtı Shipyard, in Istanbul to a Polish design. She is one of the three ships of the same class. The other two M/F Ankara and M/F Samsun are used by Turkish Maritime Lines. M/F İskenderun was handed over to Turkish Navy in 2002.
TCG İskenderun was used for the evacuation of Turkish citizens trapped in Beirut during the 2006 Israeli – Hezbollah war.
( turkishnavy )
[mappress]
Source: turkishnavy, February 21, 2011;