The European Union has urged the international community to prepare for a massive Libya refugee exodus by land and sea as Muammar Gaddafii's forces close in on insurgents.

"We pray for the best but we must be prepared for the worst, a massive flight of refugees and victims," said the European commissioner responsible for humanitarian aid, Kristalina Georgieva.

Speaking to the press, she said the deterioration in conditions on the ground in the past days had triggered a hike in the numbers of foreign workers bidding to leave as well as an influx of Libyan families seeking shelter.

"We are facing the first symptons of a potential bigger refugee problem of people with no home to go to," she said, adding that current capacity to repatriate stranded migrant workers "is falling behind the number of those who are fleeing."

"It has become clear that Benghazi is under threat," she added, speaking of the eastern rebel stronghold under threat from loyalist Libyan forces.

"We're prepared to bring assistance up to the next level," she said, urging Egypt "to be helpful to those crossing the Egyptian border and improve conditions there."

Since February 20, the UN refugee agency says, some 280,000 people have fled the vast oil-rich nation -- 151,000 into Tunisia, 118,000 into Egypt with others crossing the borders into Algeria and Niger.