However, the Geneva-based IOM said that with events moving rapidly in the Libyan capital it was not clear if the ship would be given access to the port, or whether the potential passengers would still want to be rescued.

Libyan government tanks and snipers put up scattered, last-ditch resistance in Tripoli on Monday after rebels swept into the heart of the capital, cheered on by crowds hailing the end of Muammar Qaddafi’s 42 years in power.

Altogether 5,000 people had registered with their embassies asking to be evacuated, said the IOM.

IOM spokeswoman Jemini Pandya said the organization did not know how may have changed their minds about leaving. “If things calm down they might decide they don’t want to go,” she said, adding that some people might want to stick with their jobs or might have no homes to go back to.

The vessel, the Tasucu, left the port of Benghazi in eastern Libya on Monday.