By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Some 850 Canadians left Beirut Friday, taking rides on ships out of Lebanon to Cyprus and Turkey as the Canadian government continued its efforts to extract the tens of thousands of its nationals wishing to leave the Arab country on the eastern Mediterranean.
One ship headed to Cyprus and two others sailed to the Turkish Mediterranean port of Mersin. A total of 750 people went aboard the ships chartered by the Canadian government and another 100 went on a ship evacuating US citizens, a Canadian official said.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, could not tell on which American ship the Canadians went and where to. The official said the embassy discusses with other countries availability of space on ships evacuating other nationals and allocates people to those ships if it is possible.
There have been complaints that the Canadian evacuation of Lebanon's largest foreign community has been slow and disorganized.