"We almost burst into tears when we heard that our government had chartered a plane to take us back home," Jiang Ying, a mother of a 20-month baby from the central Hubei Province, told Xinhua.

Chinese worker Dai Huidong weeps as he reminds of the experience in Libya at the Beijing Capital International Airport in Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 24, 2011. 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. [Jin Liangkuai/Xinhua]

Jiang, who went to Libya last June to join his husband working for a communication company, said it had been hard to even get food and water in Libya and they could not sleep at night.

"My husband is still there, I hope he and his colleagues can come home safe as soon as possible," she said.

The 224 nationals were warmly welcomed at the airport by You Quan, a senior official of the State Council, and some other officials from the Foreign Ministry and other departments.

Vice Foreign Minister Song Tao hailed the arrival of the first chartered plane as "important progress in the evacuation of Chinese nationals from Libya."

The Chinese government has been evacuating the nationals by air, sea and land routes, involving chartered planes, hired ocean liners and coaches.

Meanwhile, according to the information office of the Chinese Defense Ministry, a Chinese navy frigate of the "Xuzhou" fleet, which had been conducting its escorting mission in the Aden Gulf, has left for the waters surrounding Libya to provide support and protection for the ships evacuating the Chinese nationals.

However, the vice foreign minster noted that the evacuation work faces challenges as there are still a large number of Chinese stranded in Libya and the situation in Libya remains complicated.

He said the foreign ministry will continue to work with relevant departments, embassies abroad and the Chinese enterprises in Libya to evacuate all the Chinese from Libya in a safe and orderly way.