Two ships carrying a total of 3,028 Turks and 59 citizens of other countries evacuated from strife-torn Libya arrived safely in Turkey's south-eastern city of Marmaris, DPA reported according to Turkish media Thursday.
More than 5,000 of the 25,000 Turkish citizens living in Libya have been evacuated so far in what Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has hailed as the "largest evacuation operation in Turkish history."
The Turkish ships arrived in Marmaris late Wednesday night after a 20-hour journey from the Libyan port city of Benghazi.
Another 343 Turks, who were working for two private companies in Libya, were flown to Istanbul in a chartered plane.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry said that after a change of crews and supplies the ships would be sent back to Libya to pick up more people.