Francis then messaged: “May boom boom po Sir sa paligid but flight is on schedule.” He said he could not tell if shells were landing inside the airport complex but the point of impact, according to him, was somewhere near as he could feel the ground shaking.

A few hours ago, we said goodbye to nine of our kababayan here in Tripoli who have availed themselves of the government’s repatriation program. There were five nurses and a mother and her three children, including an 11-month-old boy, who comprised the 12th batch of Filipinos who were assisted in returning to the Philippines.

Like previous repatriations, the plan was to evacuate them by land to Tunis via the Ras Ajdir border crossing. It was a 12-hour-long journey that more than a hundred other Filipinos who left before them also took. From Tunis, they will board the flight that would take them home.

It was supposed to be just one of the usual evacuation runs that the Embassy has been carrying out since April when the latest conflict in Libya broke out. Things changed on Thursday evening when Gen. Khalifa Haftar ordered his Libyan National Army (LNA) to make a final, all out push towards Tripoli.

The morning after his announcement, we decided to evacuate our nine kababayan by air, which was not what we usually do. We decided it would be safer and faster that way in view of information the Embassy received of rising tensions along the main highway from Tripoli to the border.

The plan was to take them to Misrata, Libya’s second largest city located more than three hours by car from the capital. Misrata hosts the only operational airport that could accommodate regular flights after almost daily airstrikes and shelling forced the closure of the Mitiga International Airport in Tripoli. From Misrata, the repatriates would fly to Tunis where they will take their connecting flight to Manila via Doha.

The plan, however, changed again a few days later after authorities finally announced they were reopening Mitiga several months after they shut it down due to the many close calls that included parked commercial aircraft getting hit by shrapnel from rockets fired from afar.

And so that was what we did this morning. After the usual departure formalities at the Embassy, the repatriates left for Mitiga. Shortly after leaving, the boom booms started. We have not been hearing artillery fire from the Chancery for quite some time now. Then reports from other members of the Filipino Community started coming in. According to them, the explosions were more intense than usual.

We closely monitored the arrival of the repatriation team at Mitiga. Our ATN Officer Francis Enaje and Labor Office Assistant Anthony Allermo were there to make sure the nine repatriates and Embassy escorts Caloy Cabuniag and Lacson Casim are able to get on board Bouraq Air flight UZ143 and make it to Tunis.

Past 1000H, Francis reported that all were able to check in without any problem. They also have cleared immigration and were now in the boarding area. The ATN team was instructed to remain at the airport until the flight departs.

Shortly before lunch, Caloy messaged that they were about to board. A few minutes later, I received another message: “On board na kami, Sir.”

Other messages were also coming in from our kababayan who were informing us they were hearing artillery explosions in other parts of Tripoli.

Francis then messaged: “May boom boom po Sir sa paligid but flight is on schedule.” He said he could not tell if shells were landing inside the airport complex but the point of impact, according to him, was somewhere near as he could feel the ground shaking.

Our thoughts immediately raced to the nine repatriates and our two colleagues who were in that Bouraq Air Boeing 737 that was sitting there on the tarmac waiting for the go ahead to take off while the ground was shaking from shells that were falling somewhere near.

At 1204H, Caloy messaged: “Ready for take off na kami, Sir.” And that was the last we heard from Caloy until over an hour later when he messaged: “Sir, safely landed in Tunis.” That was the only time all of us here in Tripoli managed to heave a sign of relief. Thank God, all of them are safe.

They were received in Tunis by Vice Consul Cecelia Hernandez and Cultural Officer Jas de Guzman who we sent out soon after the new offensive was announced to ensure we have a team on standby there in case we need to evacuate the rest of our kababayan from Tripoli.

Tripoli, 17 December 2019