BEIJING - As many as 4,600 Chinese nationals had been evacuated from riot-torn Libya by Thursday morning, said Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu.

Among them, more than 4,000 were transfered to the southern Greek island of Crete by two vessels, over 400 were evacuated to Egypt by land, and the rest were on their way home by a chartered plane, according to Ma.

The first chartered plane sent by the Chinese government left Libya at 1:40 pm Thursday of Beijing time, carrying more than 200 Chinese, Ma told a regular press briefing.

Chinese workers pose for pictures after arriving at Beijing Capital International Airport in Beijing, capital of China, Feb 24, 2011. [Photo/Xinhua]

The first group of 43 Chinese evacuated from riot-torn Libya arrived in Beijing Thursday morning on a flight from Egypt's northern city of Alexandria.

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The 43 Chinese workers arrived in Beijing Capital International Airport at 10:23 am local time. They took flight EY888 of Etihad Airways, national airline of the United Arab Emirates, which departed from Alexandria on Wednesday.

Another group of 40 took another commercial flight at around 5:30 pm (1530 GMT) Wednesday and arrived Shanghai Thursday afternoon on a flight from Egypt's northern city of Alexandria.

The 40 workers arrived in Shanghai Pudong International Airport at around 2:00 pm. They took flight QR888 of Qatar Airways, which departed from Alexandria on Wednesday.

Chinese workers evacuated from riot-torn Libya walk out of Shanghai Pudong International Airport in Shanghai, Feb 24, 2011.[Photo/Xinhua]

All of the evacuated are workers with China Building Technique Group Co Ltd. They had been working in a university construction site in Tobruk, 500 km away from Libya's second largest city of Benghazi, the Chinese embassy in Egypt said.

CBTGC Vice-President Wang Jingfeng told Xinhua that currently the company has around 100 Chinese employees in Libya. Besides the 83 workers flown out of the region, nine workers evacuated from Libya remain in Egypt.

The riots in Libya have caused great property loss to CBTGC, with equipment, houses and cars damaged or wrecked at the company's site in Libya.

The 43 workers belong to China Changshu Construction Group Co LTD. On Thursday afternoon they will fly to Shanghai, two hours' drive from Changshu, a city in East China's Jiangsu province, Wang said.