Chinese workers tell of their lucky escape from violence

The first 83 Chinese nationals evacuated from Libya arrived back in Beijing and Shanghai yesterday, as part of Beijing's bid to evacuate more than 30,000 people trapped from the violence-wracked country.

Nearly 6,000 people had been evacuated from the North African country by early last night, including 213 people on the first charted Air China jet, which was expected to arrive in Beijing this morning, Xinhua said.

'It's terrific to get back home,' Xinhua quoted Dong Shubao, a 44-year-old construction worker from Jiangsu , as saying.

Dong, who was sent to Libya five months ago, was among a group of 40 workers who arrived at Shanghai Pudong International Airport at about 2pm yesterday on a Qatar Airways flight from the Egyptian city of Alexandria.

He said he and other Chinese nationals felt lucky to be repatriated just hours after they fled Libya. 'Many foreigners are still stranded in Libya,' he said.

Xie Guangfu, a Shandong worker on the same flight, said workers were scared after anti-government protests erupted across Libya.

'The situation there is critical. Looters broke into houses, threatening and robbing us with knives and guns,' Xie said. 'We didn't feel safe until we managed to get to the Chinese embassy in Egypt after a long journey.'