TONS of medical aid has arrived in war-torn Benghazi aboard HMS York as the destroyer arrived for the latest stage of the civilian evacuation.
York sailed into the eastern Libyan port late this morning in the third rescue sortie carried out by the Royal Navy since the unrest in the North African nation became critical.
HMS Cumberland has already ferried more than 400 civilians – including in excess of 100 Brits – safely from rebel-held Benghazi to Grand Harbour.
Estimates suggest there are still 150 UK citizens in the country and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s warden on the ground in Benghazi, Thomas Smith, has been trying to round them up so York can carry them to safety.
The destroyer also delivered aid to Benghazi, including donations from the Swedish Government, such as needles, syringes, surgical gloves and bandages for the city’s medical centre.
The aid was due to be supplied by air, but the city’s airport is out of action following last month’s fighting; the destroyer offered to carry the cargo instead.
York – diverted into the Med on her way to the South Atlantic to begin a Falklands patrol – was ordered to Malta at the weekend to support the RAF-RN-Foreign Office relief mission to evacuate Britons stuck in crisis-torn Libya.
After refuelling in Grand Harbour, which has become the hub of the maritime rescue mission, she was sent to North Africa to collect “any remaning British nations who wish to leave”.
“The Foreign and Commonwealth Office is asking anyone who is able safely to get to Benghazi to do so now,” urged a spokesman
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