A Turkish ship has rescued 250 Libyan wounded from the besieged city of Misrata but thousands had to be left behind, pleading to be evacuated.

The ship docked at Benghazi to pick up more injured before preparing to take them to Turkey for treatment.

But those from Misrata, the only western Libyan city still resisting pro-Gaddafi forces, painted a bleak picture of conditions there.

One wounded man said: “The water and electricity were cut off around 30 days ago. We had no idea of what was going on outside Misrata, nothing. We were cut off. There was no information. Gaddafi’s snipers were shooting from the tops of buildings.”

On the extended frontline, it is stalemate. Near the strategic oil town of Brega, skirmishes continue but little progress is being made.

Libya’s vital coast cities are now roughly split between government troops controlling Tripoli and the west and the rebels who control Benghazi and the east.