Britons flee war-torn Lebanon by sea

The biggest single sea evacuation of Britons fleeing war-torn Lebanon began today, as a Royal Navy ship capable of carrying 5,000 people docked in Beirut.

The vast HMS Bulwark drew alongside the port just before 11.30am local time (9.30am UK time).

Sailors and armed soldiers could be seen standing on deck as the vessel came to a halt.

All Britons who wished to leave Lebanon were told by the Foreign Office that they must register their desire to do so yesterday afternoon.

Thousands are expected to embark.

Just before the ship docked two RAF Chinooks airlifted 66 vulnerable people, including four children and the disabled.

A man with no legs was the first to be hurried on to the waiting helicopter.

HMS Bulwark is expected to stay alongside for several hours - perhaps even until nightfall - to get as many people on board as possible.

It will then return to the Cypriot port of Limassol.

A small media pack will accompany the evacuees on their journey to safety.

At the Port of Beirut a number of other warships and ferries were seen taking people away from the area.

A Foreign Office spokeswoman said there would be six flights today from Cyprus to Britain.

She said they would "probably" touch down at Gatwick, but she could not confirm what time they would arrive.

Meanwhile, thousands more people were fleeing Lebanon today as fighting between Israeli and Hezbollah forces intensified.

In southern Lebanon Hezbollah guerrillas clashed with Israeli troops near the border for a second day while Israeli warplanes carried out further airstrikes.

In Beirut, thousands of foreigners were waiting to board ships sent to evacuate them from the Lebanese capital.

As foreigners fled Lebanon in their thousands, there were warnings that local civilians left behind were facing a humanitarian disaster.

United Nations emergency relief co-ordinator Jan Egeland said that without a truce to allow aid agencies to begin relief efforts there would be a "catastrophe".

He said: "It is nearly impossible in southern Lebanon to move anything anywhere because it is too dangerous.

"It is too dangerous for our people to move things."

Mr Egeland said that neither Hezbollah nor the Israelis seemed to care about civilian suffering.

He said nearly a third of the dead and wounded in the conflict were children and the wounded could not be helped because roads and bridges had been cut by Israeli airstrikes.

More than 1,000 British nationals and dual nationals have already been ferried to safety in Cyprus.

The first Britons evacuated arrived back in the UK early today, relieved to have escaped unharmed from the terrifying week-long Israeli bombardment.

Charter flight AMT6205 landed at Gatwick Airport at about 1.30am carrying 80 evacuees who had been ferried to Cyprus on HMS Gloucester yesterday.

Their escape, at the start of the biggest war zone evacuation since Dunkirk, came amid concerns of an escalation in the Middle East conflict, which has already claimed the lives of more than 200 Lebanese citizens.

Most of the women and children looked exhausted as they filtered through arrivals at Gatwick's South Terminal following a four-hour flight from Cyprus. Many spoke of their joy at fleeing but expressed sadness at those they left behind.

Among them was 32-year-old Elise Mazegi, from Brighton, East Sussex, who made the sea crossing and flight with her five-month-old triplets, Isabella, Yasmin and Joey, and three-year-old son Dany.

She was living with her sister in a Beirut suburb when the Israeli air strikes started overnight on July 12.

As she cradled Dany in her arms, she said: "We were up in the mountains when the bombings were taking place, so didn't experience anything like Beirut.

"I'm just relieved to be home. It has been very tiring. I'm looking forward to a reunion with my husband later today in Brighton.

"It was a really well-organised evacuation, and everybody was really helpful."

Mary and Peter Salmon, from Hockley, Essex, hugged their 18-year-old son Charles with their 10-year-old daughter Caroline as he arrived with his girlfriend Rachel Curry, 19, and her 16-year-old brother, Christopher, who live in Canterbury, Kent.

Charles, Rachel and Christopher were on a three-week holiday in Beirut, where Miss Curry's family work, when the conflict erupted.

Holding a "welcome home" banner, Mrs Salmon said her son - who studies geography with his girlfriend at Royal Holloway University - thought the bombardments were "a bit of an adventure".

She added: "I had to cancel my 50th birthday party because he wasn't home, but we will have a big family get-together now he's back. He's not allowed on holiday again."

Charles said: "The bombings seemed to be dying down towards the end of our stay, but we didn't know how long that would last.

"At one point, 30 bombs went off at night. I could hear my mum's voice wobble when I was on the phone to her that night."

For others the flight brought heartbreak. Nadia Hamza, 24, from Willesden, north west London, broke down in tears as she spoke of how she has not heard from her three young children who were on a month-long holiday with her ex-husband in Soor.

Ms Hamza said she received a phone call from her ex-husband last Friday, but has since watched news reports terrified they have been caught up in the attacks.

This morning she turned up at Gatwick in the hope that her children, Ahmed, six, Mohammed, five, and four-year-old Dalia, were among the first wave of evacuees to return to the UK.

They were not. She said: "I haven't eaten or slept since last Friday, I'm going out of my mind.

"I have been glued to the television watching all these images and not knowing whether my children are alive or dead.

"Every time I try to phone my ex-husband, I get no answer. I heard about this flight and hoped that my children will be on there, but I just don't know. If they're not on board, I will keep coming back."

Ms Hamza said Mohammed suffers from numerous disabilities and needs regular medication.

Buses filled with evacuees lined up next to HMS Bulwark's massive hull.

Hundreds of those fleeing the escalating conflict flowed up the gang plank into the hold where they were greeted with a drink and offered medical assistance.

Each person was given a number with children and their parents considered as priority.

The ship's narrow corridors soon filled with people, mothers guiding their children and youngsters clutching teddy bears and dolls.

Bulwark is an amphibious landing ship designed to transport Marines around the world.

She has been sailing since January and was on her way home to Devonport, Plymouth after a stop in Barcelona.

She was promptly diverted to assist in the large scale evacuation.

The ship was supposed to dock in the UK tomorrow but will now stay in the Cyprus area to offer assistance for the foreseeable future.

Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett briefed the Cabinet on the crisis today and questioned calls for a unilateral Israeli ceasefire saying: "Do they want a ceasefire with rockets going into Israel?"

She told fellow ministers of her contacts with colleagues in the region. She is also meeting both the Egyptian and Greek foreign ministers today.

Prime Minister Tony Blair's official spokesman said: "Our task is to try and put together a process that will bring about peace - and not just a quick fix peace but a sustainable peace.

"That's the process that we started at the G8 and that's the process that will go further forward tonight and tomorrow at the United Nations."

Copyright Press Association 2006