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Silver Coast Resident Escapes Libyan Crisis

Silver Coast resident Mark Schofield found himself in a tricky situation recently whilst going about his usual business at work.

Mark is involved in the Oil & Gas industry in Libya, based in Tripoli. He and some work colleagues discussed the growing crisis unfolding in the Eastern part of the country last Saturday evening and they decided it would be prudent to leave the country on Sunday morning. Tickets were purchased through helpful contacts in Rome well after close of business that evening.

Throughout that night, sporadic gunfire could be heard while car tyres squealed and people shouted in the vicinity of their staff house. What sounded like grenades going off made the windows shake. The fighting that had run riot in Benghazi had now hit the capital. 

He is now safely back at his home in the village of Casal Pardo near Alfeizerao, on Portugal’s Silver Coast having got out at just the right time, ahead of the chaos that ensued a couple of days later.

The crisis continues in Libya with hundreds of thousands attempting to flee the country causing massive problems on the Libyan borders. The BBC reports that there are at least 300 Britons currently stranded in the country’s oil fields.

With protests showing no signs of abating and the United Nations imposing sanctions on the Gaddaffi regime, Mark did well to leave when he did.

By Stephanie Johnson

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