Eighteen Sudanese have been killed by a rocket strike in the Libyan capital, but Khartoum says the situation does not yet warrant an evacuation of its nationals, official media reported.

A Saudi Arabian Airlines jetliner veered off the runway at the Philippines' main international airport on Tuesday, causing a delay in at least 11 flights, airport officials said.

None of the 298 passengers on the Boeing 747-400 plane were hurt after the landing gear got stuck in mud near the runway, but fire and rescue teams had to lift it out and tow it away, said airport spokeswoman Jen Franco.

The Philippines said Tuesday it would send a ship to pick up at least 700 of its nationals trapped in strife-torn Libya as it presses on with efforts to rescue thousands of workers.

Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario said it would pick up Filipinos from Misrata and Benghazi and hopefully Sirte, adding that others could still flee across the land border to Tunisia.

More than 11,000 Filipinos in Libya have ignored appeals to evacuate, with many apparently choosing to take their chances in the war-torn country rather than risk unemployment at home, a foreign department spokesman said Monday.

The Philippines on Sunday appealed to thousands of its nationals to flee Libya, warning that the situation there could worsen after only a few hundred heeded calls to return home.

The Department of Foreign Affairs said it was preparing a ship to ferry Filipino workers from Libyan cities to Malta so they can be flown home after fighting closed down the airport in Tripoli.

The Philippines urged its thousands of workers in Libya on Saturday to leave the strife-torn nation now while they still can, warning that the remaining exit routes were closing fast.

A Philippine plan to evacuate all 13,000 of its workers in strife-torn Libya is a "challenge", with many reluctant to leave despite the dangers, the Filipino foreign ministry said Friday.

The ministry announced a "mandatory" evacuation of all 13,000 of its nationals living in Libya last month after the beheading of a Filipino construction worker abducted by unknown suspects.

Philippine government and rebel negotiators began a new round of meetings Friday to draft a Muslim self-rule law after falling behind a timetable laid out in a peace treaty, officials said.

A peace pact signed in March committed President Benigno Aquino and the largest Muslim rebel group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), to pass a law creating an autonomous Muslim region by mid-2016, when his six-year presidency ends.

The Philippines renewed calls for thousands of its nationals to leave Libya on Thursday after a Filipina nurse was abducted and gang-raped, following the beheading of a Filipino construction worker.

Philippine President Benigno Aquino sought Wednesday to quash rumors that a coup is being plotted against him, with his spokesman insisting he had the military's full support.

A senator-ally of Aquino alleged earlier this week that retired military officials were trying to recruit troops to destabilize the government, but Aquino spokesman Edwin Lacierda downplayed the warning.