Local duo relive Libyan ordeal

Two local men who were evacuated from Libya this week have spoken of their joy at escaping a frightening situation and being back in Athlone after enduring major difficulties getting out of the violence-stricken country . Conor Molloy from Cornafulla, who was in Benghazi, arrived back in Dublin airport on Tuesday night, after he fled the country via a boat to Athens, while his brother-in-law Michael Dempsey from Baylin got the last plane out of Tripoli getting home on Sunday night. Both are relieved to be home, having literally grabbed the last plane out of Tripoli. Speaking to the Westmeath Independent this week, Conor, who was working as Contracts Manager for Mercury Engineering having previously spent time in Saudi Arabia, said media reports were not showing the reality of what is happening in Libya. "Gadafi is hiring mercenaries from places like Chad and giving them arms. They are mowing down innocent people. Somebody needs to a put a stop to it," he explained, adding that he was one of five Mercury Engineering employees evacuated the 24 hour journey by boat to Athens in Greece on Saturday. He thinks the UN should intervene to help the people of Libya. Critical of the help from Irish and British authorities, he said they were slow to act to get out the 300-500 people involved after the trouble kicked off days before it reached tv screens here. By contrast the Chinese were able to evacuate 10,000 people and the Turks 3,000. Although he stressed his group were relatively safe within a compound in Benghazi, they were close to the trouble. "You could hear the shooting at the night, the smell of gun powder in the air and the mortars going off. We were also close to the graveyard and we could see hundreds of people being buried," he said this week back in family home. "In Benghazi, at least 300 people were murdered, maybe more, and thousands were injured," he added. The Cornafulla man said there were some scary situations with the looting of money, laptops and mobile phones. "I have three small children so they are delighted I'm home." Meanwhile, his brother-in-law Michael Dempsey was also stuck in the country at the same time where he working deep in the desert at an oil field, some 1,200 km South of Tripoli. "There was no communication, the phone lines were down so no one know what was happening," he reflected this week. "We just had to wait. There was an airstrip on our camp, four of us got a small plane and got out via Tripoli with the help of the British embassy." "We were very lucky we got the last plane out of Tripoli. It was chaotic There was a lot of violence around the airport. There were thousands outside the airport many of whom were being beaten by the mercenaries," Michael, who works for a Libyan oil company pointed out, adding that he had been able to get in contact with home briefly by text to let them know he was okay. "Gadafi is the problem once they get rid of him, things will go back to normal quickly," he believes. The Department of Foreign Affairs has confirmed almost all Irish citizens who wanted to leave Libya have left by now. The department said it had helped about 115 people to leave Libya since tensions escalated.