BEIRUT, 20 July 2006 — A first boatload of more than 1,000 Americans was evacuated from Beirut yesterday amid mounting anger among the thousands of Westerners left behind that their governments have yet to rescue them a week into a punishing Israeli air offensive.

The US-chartered Greek cruise ship left the Lebanese capital for the safety of the nearby resort island of Cyprus with 1,059 people on board, the latest in a growing flotilla of evacuee ships being hurriedly put in place by Western governments.

But it was not soon enough for many of the Western nationals who have been trapped in Lebanon by the massive Israeli onslaught launched after the capture of two soldiers by Hezbollah militants last week.

“This is disgusting!” yelled one Canadian woman among a crowd of several hundred who attempted to charge a seafront building where consular officials were allotting places on the first available ships out.

“They’ve had five days to do something, why are we stuck here?” asked a man.

Swamped embassy staff struggled to prioritize the crowds turning up at staging posts near the port as Israeli missiles and shells exploded just a couple of kilometers away, sending loud booms echoing across the smoke-shrouded skyline.

Marine helicopters had flown out small groups of Americans from the embassy in previous days but yesterday’s was the first large-scale evacuation.

British, French and German embassy staff also ramped up efforts to get out their nationals, while Canada was starting its evacuation, filling six ships.

The quickening rescue effort by so many countries was causing a logistical nightmare, with ships jostling for space in the harbor and scores of buses transporting evacuees getting snarled in traffic jams.

After days of desperation and fear, tempers boiled over in the searing heat as people tried to secure places for themselves and loved ones on the first available boat out.

The British Embassy issued a statement to its nationals saying it could not guarantee what time its ships would sail.

“There are only limited places. Do not worry if you do not get on the ships today as we are expecting more ships in the next couple of days,” it said.

A Canadian consular official, Amanda Strohan, was unable to say how many of the estimated 40,000 Canadians in Lebanon were looking to leave, but guessed at up to 8,000.

She said the evacuation would continue “for days” The sudden demand for buses and ships meant charter prices had soared 10-fold or more, and some countries suddenly found their hastily made plans scuppered.

Australia, for instance, had chartered a Greek vessel to take its first wave of citizens out yesterday — but discovered just before it was meant to dock that the ship was double-booked, prompting pleas to allies to help.

Britain stepped in to provide 120 places on a British warship for the most urgent cases while another 234 found passage on a Greek naval vessel that had been dispatched to pick up Greek Cypriots.

Ambassador Lyndall Sachs said “there will be a dedicated Australian ship tomorrow (Thursday)” for further evacuations.

Up to 25,000 Australians remain in Lebanon, although again embassy officials have no precise idea how many want to leave.

Melbourne secretary Soirse Flanagan, 35, whose Middle East holiday literally went up in smoke with the Israeli offensive, admitted she was desperate to get out as quickly as possible.

“You just keep hearing bombs. It’s pretty scary.” Beirut port, once a bustling commercial and tourist area, looked like a wartime naval base, with military helicopters clattering overhead and warships filling the wharves.

Canadian Ludovic Marcotte, 29, said his ordeal under Israeli bombardment in his ancestral homeland would remain with him even when he got home to Montreal.

“Being in a war zone really changes the way you look at life,” he said.

Diplomats warned that even when evacuees made it to Cyprus, their difficulties would not be entirely over with hotel rooms and scheduled flights virtually fully booked at the height of the summer tourist season.