At least some of the Maltese citizens who have been brought back to safety from Libya by means of planes sent for them are still angry at the government over its handling of the crisis.

One person who spoke to this newspaper disagreed with those who said that the government had organised and paid for the flights.

“We all had to fork out for those flights. To add insult to injury, we were asked to pay in euros. Many of us did not have the €260 with us in Libya, since we have no use for them there. If nobody had gone to pay for us the next day at the Foreign Affairs protocol side, we would have been left behind.”

Another person remarked: “Maltese people were so outraged with the statement from the Foreign Office that we all panicked. The government was not prepared at all for what is happening in Libya.

“What is happening is outrageous. I’ve just got information that they have sent back Dr Marisa Farrugia as consul again after she was in all the papers in Libya and Malta connected to the corruption of visas issue.

“She was sent on the same flight that we Maltese arrived in Malta. The two new consuls were asked to return to Malta with our flight.”