Boat leaves Misurata just in time

An aid mission to the besieged Libyan city of Misurata returned yesterday with 13 terrorised evacuees, including two young boys, some of who only just made it to the port before it came under fierce bombardment.

The captain of a 43-metre French tuna trawler, chartered by the Malta Red Cross and the French Red Cross to deliver 86 tons of humanitarian aid had to make the painful decision of leaving without six Ukrainian medics who were scheduled to meet the boat on Wednesday afternoon.

A group of Syrian nationals, two men, three women and two boys aged five and seven, were on board but the Ukrainians were late.

Staying longer increased the risk of an attack by pro-Gaddafi forces. In fact, shortly after the vessel left, international agencies reported that the port fell under heavy shelling from pro-regime forces, with some 13 killed and 50 wounded in the attack yesterday.

Calling it a “cowardly and criminal” act, a rebel spokesman told AFP that the dead included women and children who had attempted to be evacuated from the port. The day before, the Libyan government had labelled the port a “danger zone” saying prior authorisation was needed for any boat wishing to reach it.

So it was absolutely in the nick of time that three Red Crescent vehicles were spotted driving at breakneck speed towards the pier with the Ukrainian evacuees as the ship was already some 50 metres offshore.

The vessel was manoeuvred back into position so the six visibly relieved medics, five women and a man, could scramble aboard.

None of the evacuees was very willing to speak but a Ukrainian nurse, who has been living in Libya for years, told The Times the experience had shaken her deeply. She swore she would not return to an Arab country ever again after the experience of the past weeks.

Evacuees reach aid vessel shortly before attack by Gaddafi forces

She could not describe the fighting, as her group would cower indoors, with constant gunfire rattle and mortar explosions in the background. However, she described harrowing scenes at the Misurata hospital, where young children and babies had been treated or brought in dead with gunshot wounds.

Pictures and video footage shown to The Times by Red Crescent personnel, too graphic to publish, showed cadavers of children with direct sniper hits to the head and other parts of the body, supporting reports from the ground of indiscriminate targeting of civilians.

The city, which is 210 km to the east of Tripoli on the Mediterranean coast near Cape Misurata, has been under siege by heavy artillery, tanks and snipers for more than two months.

It is understood that a three-pronged attack has been mounted by Gaddafi forces near the centre, the outskirts and the port. Members of a British ITN television crew who also were evacuated to Malta aboard the vessel yesterday described the situation as another Sarajevo in the making.

For the last three weeks the city, already isolated from the rebel-held east through the continuous onslaught, has had its water supply intentionally shut off by Gaddafi’s forces.

The aid missions which have been leaving from Malta bring vital supplies including food, milk, diapers, medicines and water.

Shortly after the ship docked in the harbour, two pick-up trucks with mounted heavy-machine guns and packed with rebels armed to the teeth came thundering to the scene. Red Crescent volunteers quickly followed and pitched in to complete the unloading operation in just under four hours.

The mood at this point was light, in stark contrast with the tension on deck as the vessel approached the harbour in the early morning. Everyone scanned the surroundings for signs of any hostile vessels.

Eventually, a crew member spotted a tug boat, which was clearly headed for the aid vessel. After some moments of anxiety, it was confirmed that it was a friendly vessel on its way to provide berthing assistance.

All Wednesday morning and afternoon, the dull thud of artillery barrages could be heard from some five kilometres away and plumes of black smoke could be seen wafting upwards on the horizon. Nato fighter jets roared overhead.

The ship left Valletta on Monday night and arrived in Misurata on Wednesday morning, berthing at the end of a pier close to the entrance of the city’s commercial harbour, the farthest possible spot away from any military action.

The quay is littered with the remnants of bombed-out trucks and containers. A cannibalised Soviet-era anti-aircraft gun, its four-gun barrels missing, points forlornly towards the harbour entrance. Razor sharp pieces of shrapnel and gun shells are scattered about the dusty ground.

While the convoys leaving from Malta are bringing desperately needed supplies, the aid trickling in is not enough to stabilise what looks like an increasingly critical and desperate situation.

Hundreds of thousands of civilians are staring death in the face, a death many of them will surely meet should Gaddafi’s troops break through the rebel defences.