Oh Dear: Evacuating the Brits from Libya

[stek]

People don't think about the country they just see the pound signs and off they go, if your gonna work in these places you have to accept that from time to time this kind of thing can happen and presumably thats why their paying shed loads of money in the first place.

If your earning the kind of money some of these people get paid you could get your own plane.

To be fair I did research - Libya was deemed totally safe by the HO (apart from don't drive!) and is in fact a Socialist State, not on the face of it a likely candidate for a Muslim free-for-all.

But I totally agree it's about weighting up the cost/benefit/risk, and I nearly got it wrong.

[Churchill]

Only problem is bribing the pilot, air traffic control and the right government official to let you take off.

Takeoffs are always free, it's landing that you get charged for.

On a serious note it looks like the boys in Hereford are getting warmed up.

[SueEllen]

If your earning the kind of money some of these people get paid you could get your own plane.

Only problem is bribing the pilot, air traffic control and the right government official to let you take off.

[amcdonald]

Oh dear. Not a good showing.

Hague talks pretty impressively.

Especially to his toyboy

[Support Monkey]

I was in talks around Christmas time for three year tax free gig, free accommodation and meals - glad it fell through now cos I would have taken it, the money would have set me up for life.

People don't think about the country they just see the pound signs and off they go, if your gonna work in these places you have to accept that from time to time this kind of thing can happen and presumably thats why their paying shed loads of money in the first place.

If your earning the kind of money some of these people get paid you could get your own plane.

[ThomasSoerensen]

I was in talks around Christmas time for three year tax free gig, free accommodation and meals - glad it fell through now cos I would have taken it, the money would have set me up for life.

that could mean all of 3-4 months

[Ignis Fatuus]

Oh dear. Not a good showing.

Hague talks pretty impressively.

[SueEllen]

Whitehall officials even accused foreign governments of bribing to Gaddafi’s inner circle for rescue flights.

WTF is wrong with that?

‘That’s the kind of unethical and illegal activity we can’t get into,’ a government source said.
Ministers waited until they had got the green light from Libya’s aviation minister before trying to send in chartered airliners.'

So it's ok to do it for arms but not British Citizens' lives.

[stek]

I was in talks around Christmas time for three year tax free gig, free accommodation and meals - glad it fell through now cos I would have taken it, the money would have set me up for life.

[milanbenes]

ok, laughter turned to sorrow when I read this part of the article....

'James Coyle

Stranded in the Libyan desert with less than 24-hours’ supply of food and water, James Coyle says he is ‘desperate for rescue’.
The oil worker, who is trapped alongside 90 other British workers in an overrun camp between Tripoli and Benghazi, claims the Foreign Office has abandoned them to their fate.
With the violence escalating and the constant sound of gunfire ringing through the night, the 57-year-old grandfather said they are ‘living every day in fear of our lives’.
‘We are living a nightmare and we have asked the British Government and they have just totally ignored us,’ he said.

‘They don’t reply to emails, they have cut off the phones to Tripoli. We told them the situation three days ago – they never even replied to us. We have been left without any protection whatsoever.’
Local militia armed with AK47s raided the oil company’s base, taking vehicles and basic electrical equipment, including fridge-freezers.
Other outlying camps have been abandoned because of the attacks.
Although the workers are just a kilometre from a local airstrip, they are unable to reach it due to the violence, as they are unarmed and have no transport.
‘We are desperate for the Government to come and get us,’ said Mr Coyle, of Erskine, Renfrewshire.
‘We’re two and a half hours from the coast, in the middle of the desert.
‘There are 300 people in this camp. It normally only caters for 100. We have had to take in the Germans from next door as their camp has been wrecked.
‘We are living every day in fear of our lives as the local people are armed with AK45s and AK47s.’
For the past seven years, Mr Coyle has worked as a welding engineer for Oil Purification System, spending six weeks in Libya then having three weeks at home.
He was originally due to return to the UK last Sunday, but a problem with his exit visa delayed his departure. A light aircraft service which normally takes workers to Tripoli Airport is no longer flying and when Mr Coyle contacted the British Embassy he was told simply to stay put. That was the last he heard from any officials and phone lines are no longer working at the compound.
His daughter, Julie O’Shea, 30, demanded urgent action. ‘The Foreign Office were hopeless. They told me to book a British Airways flight for my dad and BA are not even running.’


Fearful: Richard Foscolo

Richard Foscolo
Hundreds of miles from an international airport, Richard Foscolo remains trapped in Libya. The terrified health and safety expert was midway through a six-week contract in the country’s oilfields when the fighting erupted.
With the Foreign Office providing the family with scant information, they fear Mr Foscolo has been all but ‘forgotten’ and say he is a ‘sitting duck’.
His father Bryan Foscolo, 65, said: ‘We are incredibly frightened about Richard and we have heard nothing about how he will get home.
‘I have spoken to him but it is not the Richard I know – he sounds very upset and frightened.’
A former fireman, Mr Foscolo, 39, from Barry in South Wales, is one of more than 100 British workers believed to be stranded in southern Libya.
‘If it hadn’t been for Richard’s wife we wouldn’t have heard anything from the Government,’ his father said. ‘We want the Government to think about those in other parts of Libya – not just those in Tripoli. Hopefully they will act now and get the rest of them out, but so far our cries have fallen on death ears.’
In a desperate attempt to secure Mr Foscolo’s return, the family contacted their MP Alun Cairns who is liaising with the FCO. His mother Jean, 68, said: ‘I haven’t had any sleep since the trouble broke out and the only way I can cope is to turn the telly off


Read more: Libya protests: 500 Britons trapped as plane breaks down | Mail Online'


read that, it'll sober you up



James and Richard, very sorry to hear of your situations - i sincerely hope you get out of there.

If there is a god in this world, may he be with you.


Milan.

[milanbenes]

this is class, lol,

Libya protests: 500 Britons trapped as plane breaks down | Mail Online


'Hundreds of terrified Britons were still trapped in Libya today as the plane meant to rescue them sat on the tarmac at Gatwick with a ‘technical fault’.

'Last night, the Royal Navy’s HMS Cumberland was due to arrive off Libya’s second city Benghazi – but will not seek to dock as it is not safe'


and the best bit................


'Anger mounted last night as it emerged that other countries including France, Russia and the Netherlands have already evacuated citizens – while Britain failed to get a plane off the ground.

Whitehall officials even accused foreign governments of bribing to Gaddafi’s inner circle for rescue flights. ‘That’s the kind of unethical and illegal activity we can’t get into,’ a government source said.
Ministers waited until they had got the green light from Libya’s aviation minister before trying to send in chartered airliners.'


oh yes, that's just not cricket

class

Milan.