Larnaca International Airport News

A small cruise ship, the Orient Queen, has been chartered by the U.S. government to evacuate Americans from war-torn Lebanon and ferry them about 130 miles to the nearby island of Cyprus, the Pentagon announced July 17th. The Lebanese owned cruise ship, which can carry up to 750 passengers, is expected to arrive in Beirut on Tuesday and will be escorted in its evacuation mission by a U.S. Navy guided missile destroyer, the USS Gonzalez. The cruise ship is expected to make its initial evacuation crossing from Beirut to Cyprus later Tuesday. Sources said the ship probably would take the evacuees to the southern coastal port of Larnaca, which is only a few miles from Larnaca International Airport, the island's main international gateway.