Rescued Britons fly out from nightmare in Libya

A total of 262 British nationals, many with tales of horror, delays and confusion have now left the crisis-torn country on chartered and military aircraft.

But as Britain’s rescue effort was stepped up, there were fears for 170 workers trapped in the desert, amid speculation that special forces may be sent to save them.

Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi continued to voice defiance in a phone interview with state TV as he urged the population to confront the protesters and insisted he would not stand down.

“There are people who have been in power longer than me, like Queen Elizabeth of Britain,” he said, also claiming that terror chief Osama Bin Laden was behind the uprising, with al-Qaida militants “exploiting” teenagers, giving them “hallucinogenic pills in their coffee with milk, like Nescafe”.

Opposition rebels, supported by defected government troops, consolidated their control of the east of the country and claimed new gains closer to the capital.

As the death toll rises, Prime Minister David Cameron and US President Barack Obama are set to hold talks over an international strategy to force the Libyan authorities to end the violence against its own citizens. The US government is also set to throw its weight behind a European effort to expel Libya from the United Nations Human Rights Council and appoint a special investigator to look into alleged atrocities committed by Col Gaddafi’s regime.

Officials said the US would support efforts to establish a UN-led probe into “gross and systematic violations of human rights by the Libyan authorities”.

US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton is also set to hold international talks in Geneva aimed at ending the bloodshed.

Mr Obama said: “We strongly condemn the use of violence in Libya. The suffering and bloodshed is outrageous, and it is unacceptable. So are threats and orders to shoot peaceful protesters and further punish the people of Libya.”

The first planeload of British evacuees landed at Gatwick yesterday just after 7am. The BP-chartered aircraft had 78 passengers on board. Those on the flight described the “hellish” scenes.

Helena Sheehan, 66, said she had just experienced “some of the worst hours of her life”, adding: “Libya is descending into hell.”

Jan McKeogh said she had heard of “absolute atrocities” being committed which were too upsetting to describe.

She added: “Monday night was the turning point for us. Chinooks flew over our house and there were machine gun blasts shortly afterwards. It’s usually a very, very safe area but there were absolute maniacs over there.”

Karen Willoughby, 30, flew in to Gatwick on her way home to Galway, Ireland, with her husband and their seven-month-old son.

She said: “We went to the airport the day before yesterday at 6am and got going at 5am today Libya time. I’m glad to be home, it was getting scary. It’s just crazy.”

The focus now is on rescuing the 170 Britons scattered across desert camps in Libya.

While the Ministry of Defence refused to comment on the movements of the special forces, the Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt revealed the SAS could now be deployed.

He said: “The most significant news is the SAS troops that are now ready to spring into action. They are obviously thinking very, very carefully about these 170 trapped oil workers and the issue now is how do we deal with people outside Tripoli rather than inside Tripoli.”

Mr Cameron issued an apology yesterday for the slowness of the British rescue effort which saw a chartered flight delayed for ten hours at Gatwick after breaking down.

He said: “What I want to say to those people is I am extremely sorry. It is a very difficult picture in Libya.

“This is not an easy situation. We have achieved a lot this morning but we need to do more and we need to do it quickly.”