Anxious wife awaits news of husband’s travel plans

A Maltese man who works for an oil plant in the heart of the Libyan desert was meant to return home yesterday but his anxious wife told The Times she had no idea when he could leave.

Communication with her husband is sporadic but it seems he is stuck at the plant because the only way out is via a 90-minute flight to Tripoli on a small desert plane.

It has been reported that the Libyan authorities are refusing to grant permission for internal flights to ferry workers stranded in the desert to major cities. Without an air link to the main airports, there was virtually no way out of the plant because driving through the desert was not considered safe, the wife said.

In an e-mail yesterday morning, the man told his family flights were meant to resume, carrying about 15 passengers at a go, and that he was scheduled to be on the fourth one out. However, it was not known how frequent the trips would be and when his turn would come.

The man, who has been working for the company for 22 years, is one of over 30 expats, including another Maltese, at the plant. He was last in Malta four weeks ago and, until yesterday, had never outstayed his time in Libya.

Expats were plucked out of the country throughout the week but he was left in limbo. His morale seems to be “fine”, his wife said, although she is on tenterhooks, regularly contacting his company for details on an evacuation plan, and the airline that normally flies the employees in and out.

So far, none of the 100 workers have left, even though most foreigners have been fleeing Libya due to the uprising against leader Muammar Gaddafi and the ensuing violence.

Her husband has now been provided with an emergency passport from the government because such employees normally leave theirs at the company’s office in Tripoli on landing.

Speaking from her home, where she was busy tending to her young children, the wife said she was concerned the political situation in the north African country could change overnight and she had no idea in what direction.

Taking into account the news that airlines like Lufthansa have stopped operating to Libya, her greatest fear was that her husband would manage to fly to Tripoli but, once there, would find no flights out.

“He is probably better off at the oil field in the desert,” she said, “rather than in the thick of things in Tripoli”.

Having said that, she is worried about reports that Col Gaddafi has ordered security forces to sabotage the country’s oil facilities and is, therefore, in a quandary.

Efforts are continuing by the government to secure the evacuation of Maltese stuck in the desert.