ATHENS, Greece — Thousands of evacuees from strife-torn Libya reached ports across the Mediterranean on Saturday, with thousands more still scrambling to flee the North African nation by sea, air or land.

More than 2,800 Chinese workers landed Saturday in Heraklion on the Greek island of Crete aboard a Greek ship. Further to the west, another 2,200 Chinese arrived in Valletta, the capital of Malta, on a ship from the eastern Libyan port of Benghazi.

Hours earlier, in the dark of night, a U.S-chartered ferry dropped off over 300 passengers in Valletta after a voyage from Tripoli, the Libyan capital.

The sheer numbers of foreigners leaving Libya as Moammar Gadhafi’s regime attacks anti-government protesters has been staggering. As of Saturday, at least 16,000 Chinese workers and 10,000 Turks had been evacuated, most working in the construction and oil industries.

In addition, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the Security Council that 22,000 people have fled across the Libyan border to Tunisia and another 15,000 crossed the border to Egypt.