A Nelson man is trapped in Libya
By Nelson Daily Staff
A Nelson man is trapped in Libya, a country gripped by unrest.
John McNabb has written on his Facebook page that he is in a compound in the Benghazi Airport. The airport has been closed since unrest broke out last week in the country.
A mining engineer, McNabb has said on his site the airport has been under machine gun fire since Sunday.
Libya is an oil-rich nation in North Africa that has been under control of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi since he seized power in 1969.
The unrest sweeping through much of the Arab world erupted in several Libyan cities, beginning with a core of anti-government opponents in Benghazi. It spread to the capital of Tripoli but Col. Qaddafi retaliated with violence.
People are demanding the release of political prisoners, as well as the end of el-Qaddafi’s 40-year reign over the country.
Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon announced an airlift for stranded Canadians beginning Thursday at the Tripoli airport, about 600 miles west of Benghazi.
