Nicosia: Around 200 people fleeing the violence in Lebanon, including the Saudi ambassador in Beirut, have arrived in the nearby island nation of Cyprus, officials said on Monday. Since Saturday, 18 private yachts or speedboats have docked at Larnaca's marina on the island's south coast, while more people are expected if the conflict worsens.

At least 59 people have died in six days of violence across Lebanon between government and opposition supporters in the worst sectarian fighting since the 1975-1990 Civil War. Back then, Cyprus became a second home to many Lebanese refugees.

"It seems these people are abandoning Lebanon for their own personal reasons, some are transferring to other countries or planning to stay here temporarily until the situation normalizes," Larnaca marina's general manager, Michalis Filis, told reporters.

He said some of the boats were dropping people off before going back for more, while other people were docking at the marina for a short period in their luxury yachts.

"Those who choose to come to Cyprus are doing so with speedboats and yachts transporting around 10 people each and taking only five to six hours to reach the island," said Filis.

He said among those arriving at the marina on Monday was the Saudi ambassador to Lebanon, Abdel-Aziz al-Khoja, and his family, who were escorted directly to the city's international airport.

"We expect more boats to come but we don't know how many, as confirmation comes shortly before they arrive here."

A large number of Saudis keep second homes in Lebanon and soon after the fighting erupted last Wednesday the Saudi Embassy in Beirut launched a major operation to evacuate its nationals by road through neighboring Syria.

In 2006 Cyprus served as a safe haven for more than 55,000 foreign nationals fleeing Lebanon during the devastating summer war with Israel.

At its peak, the biggest sea evacuation since World War II saw more than 10,000 people arrive on the island in a single day as Britain, America, Canada, France and Australia scrambled to gets its nationals out of the war zone.

Cyprus says it is closely monitoring the current unrest in Lebanon and has drawn up contingency plans just in case a repeat evacuation is called for.

"We have plans for various scenarios and we are ready to implement them if needed but no country is advocating an evacuation at the moment," Foreign Ministry official Alexandros Zenon told AFP.

However, the Cypriot Embassy in Beirut is advising its nationals to get in touch and give details of their whereabouts in case of an emergency.

Cypriots are also advised against travelling to Lebanon under any circumstances.