Two days later, nine Boustead employees left Libya on a commercial flight while 22 were forced to stay because they were without the exit visas required by the Libyan government. Already strained and exhausted, on February 22 they learned that Tripoli’s airport was closed and that most airlines had cancelled all flights out.
the past three and a half years. Mr Müller was shocked when news came of violence against citizens. “That’s when I realized I had to get out and get my family to safety”, he says. With his wife and five-year-old son safely on a flight to Austria, Mr Müller began his attempts to leave. “Once I knew my family was safe, I tried to get onto a number of flights that were constantly cancelled or delayed”, he says. “I made my way to and from the airport constantly, watching as the city was falling apart around me.”
With police stations abandoned or burned down, roadblocks made it impossible to leave the city other than by air. In fact some of Mr Müller’s colleagues were arrested for not carrying the right documents. “Their papers were at the airport because they were trying to get exit visas”, he explains. “After they were detained at a roadblock trying to get into Tripoli, it took a lot of hard work to get them out.”
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Intense ongoing communications between Boustead, the Singapore and Malaysia Foreign Affairs Ministries and International SOS finally yielded results. On February 23 International SOS arranged for all 22 Boustead employees to leave on an Air Malta flight. Keith Chu is Boustead’s Vice President, Corporate Marketing and Investor Relations. “We would like to thank International SOS for all the assistance they gave us”, he says. “There was nothing more heartening than seeing our staff reunited with their families.”
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Falling apart Like many of the Boustead team, Mr Lucas Müller and his family had been living and working in Libya happily for
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Malta flight for Mr Müller to London on February 23 and organized the exit visa he needed. After waiting for 13 hours in the overcrowded airport Mr Müller was helped by International SOS onto his flight to safety. “International SOS helped us with our visas and gave us a lot of care and attention. They really looked after us on the way to London, and I can’t thank them enough,” he said.
Mitigating the risks In total International SOS issued 835 tickets for commercial air travel out of Libya, including eight commercial flights and three charter flights. 96 people were evacuated from Libya to Malta by ferry.
Boustead Chairman and Group CEO Wong Fong Fui remains philosophical about what happened. “You cannot be discouraged by such incidents”, he says. “The world is globalized and you have to learn how to survive in environments like that one we have just experienced. You just have to make sure that you can mitigate the risks, and go into new markets with your eyes open.”
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Flight to safety The final trip Mr Müller made to the airport was the most frightening. “The police tried to clear the entrance to the airport using force and I was beaten and sworn at by police.” By that point International SOS had secured an Air
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HOTLINE - SPECIAL ISSUE 5
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