Foreign workers flee after being accused of supporting rebellion

Britain today began airlifting thousands of Egyptians to safety as the United Nations warned of a refugee crisis in Libya.

Many of them are migrant workers who have suffered reprisals from Col Gaddafi's loyalists after being accused of encouraging the uprising.

The UN estimated 150,000 people have crossed into Egypt and Tunisia already, with another 30,000 still waiting to cross.

UN spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said "many, many terrified refugees" in the capital Tripoli were too afraid to move for fear they will be targeted.

She added that some waiting at the Tunisian border to cross had been there for three days and that sub-Saharan Africans in particular were not being allowed into Tunisia. "We're very concerned that racism could be a factor," she said.

"All borders - land, air and sea - should be opened in a non-discriminatory manner. Anyone who needs to flee should be able to flee."

Britain has spent £4 million chartering three planes to take Egyptians from Djerba in Tunisia to Cairo. Egyptian and other foreign workers have made their way to Libya's borders as they try to flee the violence. Few have been able to travel on to their homes, so tent cities have been spouting up at border posts, amid long queues of refugees seeking food and clean water.

Foreign Secretary William Hague was today holding talks on Libya and the Middle East today with his French counterpart Alain Juppé in Paris.

Three Dutch marines were captured by Gaddafi loyalists while trying to rescue their countrymen. They had landed near Sirte in a helicopter from HMS Tromp, which is anchored off the Libyan coast to help with evacuations.