Malta Independent

Virtu Ferries catamaran San Gwann is due in the Grand Harbour at 0.30am tonight.

The vessel departed from Benghazi at 1.15pm with 292 passengers on board. All passengers are Indians except for one Maltese, Virtu Ferries said.

The San Gwann is operating this trip under charter by the government of India. The evacuation was coordinated by Virtu Ferries and the government of India.

It would seem the evacuation came not a moment too soon.

The Libya Herald reported yesterday that in what seems like an expansion of the current pro-Islamists -anti-Islamists fighting and divide in eastern Libya, the official spokesperson for the Dignity operation led by retired General Hafter, Mohamed Hijazi, said that Benghazi port will be closed as of today.

Hijazi said that all port traffic will be diverted to the port of Tobruk, which is as it happens where the House of Representatives happens to be convening currently. The Dignity operation is pro the HoR and its convening in Tobruk.

The reasoning for this, Hijazi explained, was to counter the trafficking of arms and ammunition into the port of Benghazi arriving from both Misrata and Derna in aid of what he called “extremists”.

Moreover, Hijazi warned that any sea traffic to and from Derna and Misrata, and to Benghazi would be fired at.