SHIPS AND AIRCRAFT SCOOPED MORE EXHAUSTED PEOPLE FLEEING THE FIGHTING IN LEBANON TO SAFETY IN CYPRUS ON SATURDAY IN A MASS INTERNATIONAL EFFORT THAT HAS SO FAR EVACUATED MORE THAN 25,000 PEOPLE, REUTERS REPORTED. THE EUROPEAN UNION DISPATCHED A TEAM TO HELP CYPRUS COPE WITH THE HUGE WAVE OF FOREIGN EVACUEES, WHICH IS STRETCHING THE SMALL ISLAND'S RESOURCES AT THE HEIGHT OF ITS TOURIST SEASON. "WE EXPECT THE NUMBER TO TRIPLE IN THE COMING DAYS. THERE ARE MORE THAN 60,000 TO 70,000 TO BE EVACUATED THROUGH CYPRUS," FOREIGN MINISTER GEORGIOS LILLIKAS SAID, INSPECTING A FRENCH-CHARTERED BOAT THAT BROUGHT IN MORE THAN 1,200 PEOPLE. TURKEY STARTED TO SHARE CYPRUS'S BURDEN AND HUNDREDS OF EVACUEES, MOSTLY CANADIAN AND SOME SWEDISH CITIZENS, HAVE BEEN ARRIVING IN THE PORT OF MERSIN TO THE NORTH OF CYPRUS, WHERE THEY WERE WELCOMED WITH CARNATIONS. "WE ARE WORKING AT A CAPACITY OF ABOUT 1,000 PEOPLE A DAY," CANADIAN AMBASSADOR TO ANKARA YVES BRODEUR TOLD REUTERS. THE NUMBER OF AMERICANS IN CYPRUS GREW AS MORE EVACUEES CAME IN ON SATURDAY. ONLY A FRACTION WAS BEING SENT HOME. ABOUT 5,700 PEOPLE WERE COMING IN ON SEVEN U.S. SHIPS ON SATURDAY AND THE EARLY HOURS OF SUNDAY AND ONLY 1,600 OF THOSE WOULD BE FLOWN OUT, OFFICIALS SAID. ABOUT 2,300 WERE STAYING AT A MAKESHIFT CAMP SET UP IN FAIRGROUNDS IN THE CAPITAL NICOSIA. "THERE ARE STILL SHIPS COMING," A U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT MEDIA OFFICIAL, WHO DECLINED TO BE NAMED, SAID. "IT MAY NOT BE AT THE SAME RATE AS A FEW DAYS AGO, BUT WE ARE STILL RECEIVING A LOT OF PASSENGERS."
