CRI听力: Chinese Companies in Libya Looted

Chinese companies in Libya have been attacked and looted as the unrest in the country is becoming increasingly violent. Many Chinese citizens in Libya are now looking for help from the Chinese embassy in Tripoli.
 

Our reporter Wangjing has more.

Chinese companies in Libya are mostly involved in construction projects that are set far from the capital, where security is considered loose.

One construction site located in Libya's 2nd largest city of Benghazi, which belongs to the China State Construction Engineering Corporation, has been attacked, forcing the thousands of Chinese laborers working on the projects to take shelter.

Huang Taiping is the company spokesperson.

"We have about 10 thousand people working on building residential houses in the city. There's no report of casualties so far."

He says the company now plans to evacuate its staff in Libya, but is declining to give anymore details.

Another report of violence against Chinese nationals comes from an eastern Libyan city, where around a thousand Chinese workers have been left homeless, after a group of armed Libyan's forced them out of their dormitories on a construction site.

Other media reports are suggesting that about 15 Chinese citizens have been injured in the recent looting.

With very little foreign media access to Libya, information flowing out of the country is difficult to obtain. At the same time, telecommunications within the country are also spurratic, making it difficult for Chinese people in Libya to contact the Chinese embassy for help.

A person with the username "Happy Xu Feng" is continuing to update his situation on his microblog, saying around 200 Chinese nationals are now trapped in Gharyan, a northwestern town of Libya. The person writes that they have been unable get in touch with the Chinese embassy and are on high alert to try to avoid any brush with violence.

Wu Huixuan, who works for a Chinese bridge construction company, says most business are closed in Tripoli, but the supermarkets are still open.
 
"We went to the supermarket yesterday, and the supplies in the market seem to be fine, but there also seemed to be panic buying. People have been lining up for necessities. I've never seen people lining up in supermarkets before."

He adds his company has asked its employees to avoid going out, but says he has not received any notice to evacuate Libya.

For CRI, I'm Wang Jing.