A Maltese oil worker complained upon his return to Malta this evening that he had been calling for help from the Maltese government for the past three weeks but received “zero” replies from the Maltese authorities.

Saviour Brincat unexpectedly walked up to journalists waiting at the airport and explained how he had just returned to Malta aboard the same flight as the 3-year-old Eritrean boy who was reunited with his father.

Mr Brincat works for oil company Nageco. He said he is a crew manager and is responsible for crews of up to 200 people in desert sites. For the past three weeks he had been trying to get out of a desert site some 100 km south of Brega.

“I had been sending emails to the Maltese government since the 15th of July. I told them to get me out of there.  I called both the Foreign Affairs Ministry and their crisis centre. They told me to wait. The government only offered moral support and said they would be trying to get me out.”

 Mr Brincat said he had pleaded with the authorities to evacuate him after Libyan militiamen stole a company supply truck and two stationwagons.

“When you are in the desert you have to book a flight at least three days before, but because of Eid, the flights were cancelled. I managed to fly out of there with no help from the government. Only Aaron Stivala from Planet 24/7 helped me. He delayed the flight long enough for me to arrive at the airport.”

Mr Brincat said had to evacuate from Libya in 2011 and 2014 and he had received no help from the government on both occasions.

He said he sent an email just three days ago in which he warned of the dangers he was facing in the desert. “No one replied. They must have taken umbrage at what I wrote.”

When asked what the danger was, Mr Brincat said he preferred to hold back from giving out certain information and criticised Martin Galea for speaking in the way he did with the press. “It is enough to say that they stole three vehicles from us.”

Mr Brincat said there was no security for him and his workers. “There is no army protection.” All Maltese in the desert should be immediately evacuated from Libya, said Mr Brincat, and the government should provide the means to do so. “Talk is not enough. They need to have a plan. There are a number of airstrips that can be used to evacuate foreign nationals.”

He said that workers do not have the means to organise flights without help and using the roads can be very dangerous in a country where everyone carries firearms. “It is not easy to get out.”

A Foreign Affairs Minstry spokesperson at the airport could not immediately comment on Mr Brincat's claims. 

Government comments

Speaking with The Malta Independent, a spokesman for the government confirmed that they have been in contact with Mr Brincat for a number of days.

“What he wanted was for government to physically send someone into the oil fields to retrieve him, which is impossible and couldn’t be done now, like it couldn’t be done in 2011,” the spokesman said.

“We are not contesting his frustration and we are glad that he is here in Malta through means provided by the government”, he said.

The government has been in touch with every Maltese national through notices telling them to leave Libya as it is unsafe, he added. In addition, the government has advised that things are not getting better in Libya. “In fact, over a hundred have returned home and under a hundred are still in Libya,” the spokesman argued.