British helicopters evacuate 40 people from Beirut

LONDON - Britain said it evacuated around 40 people from Lebanon by military helicopter today as Israel bombarded the country.

A spokesman for the Foreign Office in London said the evacuees, who were mainly women, children and those in need of medical care, were flown out of the capital Beirut early on Monday in Royal Air Force (RAF) Chinook helicopters.

"They included a number of urgent cases -- women and children and people who were ill," he said. He stressed none was suffering injuries from the escalating conflict between Israel and Lebanon.

He said most of those evacuated were British, but some dual-nationals and some other EU nationals were among the 40.

Britain said on Sunday it was sending two Royal Navy ships to the Middle East amid contingency planning for a possible larger evacuation of British nationals.

A defence ministry spokeswoman said 3500 to 4000 British families and 10,000 dual nationals were registered in Lebanon.

- REUTERS