The three-member Bulgarian family had not been able to evacuate from Tripoli with the first ship sent by the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

IOM announced Thursday that the Bulgarians are stranded in their home in the Libyan capital and cannot reach the port over the heavy gunfire and explosions in the city.

The IOM spokesman Jumbe Omari Jumbe voiced hope the family will be able to get on the second rescue ship which can hold 1 000 people. The ship is expected in Tripoli Saturday evening.

Jumbe says that IOM workers begin calling and gathering those wishing to evacuate only when the ship approaches the port over high threats for their security.

"Only when people begin boarding the ship we will be able to tell if the Bulgarians have managed to reach us. But there is also the possibility they will try another rescue route," the IOM spokesperson had explained.

After the civil war conflict in Libya started in February 2011, Bulgaria's government participated in international evacuation efforts in the spring of 2011, only to be embarrassed when a Bulgarian government plane came back almost empty at one point, with some of the Bulgarians living in Libya refusing to leave.

A large number of Bulgarians – up to 15 000 in the 1980s – worked in Libya during the Cold War but their number has declined substantially since the early 1990s.

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