Canberra (Australia): Australia scrambled to charter ships on Wednesday to evacuate thousands of citizens from Lebanon and India diverted warships to Beirut as an international flotilla forms to rescue foreigners from Israeli air strikes.
Four Indian navy ships were on the way to the area ready to evacuate up to 12,000 citizens, said Indian officials.
They added that they were also looking at possible air evacuations from Damascus.
Bangladesh has asked for international help to evacuate 10,000 citizens and the Philippines, with an estimated 34,000 nationals working in Lebanon, said it was considering chartering a ship to take people to Greece or Cyprus.
"We're now in evacuation mode," said a retired general and executive secretary of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, Eduardo Ermita.
"We're doing everything to keep our people from harm's way."
Tens of thousands of foreigners have become stranded in Lebanon after Israel bombed Beirut's airport and dozens of roads and bridges in a campaign that began after Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers in a border attack on July 12.
Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer warned evacuations could be held up due to congestion at Beirut's main port, where British and US warships are planning evacuations.
"The port is now starting to get quite congested in Beirut, so the logistics of managing that for everybody are not going to be very easy," Downer told Australian radio on Wednesday.
Australia's initial plan to evacuate more than 300 people on a Turkish ship was thrown into disarray on Wednesday when the company which owns the ferry said it had been double-booked, an Australian foreign affairs spokeswoman told Reuters.
Australia was attempting to find places for the stranded evacuees on British, Canadian and US ships, while authorities said two ships, each capable of taking 800 people, were due to arrive in Beirut later this week to pick up more Australians.
About 25,000 Australians with dual nationality are in Lebanon and about 7,500 have registered to evacuate. Australia has already bused about 200 refugees out through Syria.
Lebanese community leaders in Australia have voiced frustration at the time taken to rescue stranded tourists, offering to fly to Lebanon to help, as Australian diplomats expressed concerns for 400 families trapped in southern Lebanon.
One Australian, Rami Abdallah, was so desperate to rescue his wife and young daughter from Lebanon's Bekaa Valley he was due to fly to Syria on Wednesday to bring them home.
"I may never see her again. I am doing what I have to do. I am not worried about anyone else," Abdallah told reporters.
Nine US military ships were set to evacuate more than 2,400 US citizens by air and sea, while Britain has six ships in the region hoping to evacuate about 5,000 people this week.
Indian foreign ministry officials said they had evacuated 49 nationals by bus across the border to Syria, while contingency plans were being worked out for 12,000 Indians in Lebanon.
The Philippines said it was looking at escape routes and hoped to evacuate 200 people by plane from Damascus on Thursday.
Thailand said 37 citizens in Lebanon would be evacuated through Damascus.
Malaysia said it had evacuated 10 nationals, including four diplomats, from Beirut to Syria.
Japan was examining ways to evacuate 45 Japanese in Lebanon, while the Xinhua news agency said 82 Chinese in Lebanon had been evacuated to Syria earlier this week.
Bangladesh, which has no diplomatic representation in Lebanon, has called for the International Organisation of Migration to help evacuate its citizens.
"Bangladesh has formally requested us to to take necessary steps to evacuate its citizens from Lebanon." IOM representative for South Asia, Sahidul Haq, told Reuters.
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