A Maltese man who yesterday returned from Libya claims his calls on the government to help him leave the desert went unheeded for three weeks and he only received “moral support”.

“The government should get the Maltese out of the desert in Libya immediately. People there have very easy access to weapons,” Saviour Brincat said after landing yesterday.

Mr Brincat, who works for oil and gas company Nageco, is a former colleague of Martin Galea, who was abducted in Libya earlier this month and released last week.

He said he was responsible for a 200-strong crew 100 km south of Brega and had to catch three planes to reach Malta.

He only managed to board the Medavia flight yesterday because it waited after his incessant calls to his contacts, he said.

In the past weeks, the Maltese government has repeatedly advised nationals to head back, saying that those who remained in Libya did so out of choice.

But Mr Brincat said he has been pleading with the Maltese authorities to get him out of there since July 15 but had only received moral support.

An e-mail sent three days ago warning of dangers remained unanswered.

Asked to specify these dangers, Mr Brincat said he preferred to withhold certain information but one of his crew’s supply trucks and two station wagons had gone missing.

Just as they stole three vehicles, they could steal us

“Just as they stole the three vehicles, they could steal us.”

A spokesman for the government said that it had been in touch with Mr Brincat, just as it had been in contact with all other Maltese nationals in Libya.

It was not possible to physically go into the oil field where he was located to bring him back.

“It is important that he has returned safe and sound, on a Malta-coordinated Medavia flight.

“We understand the frustration of this difficult situation,” the spokesman said.