The friends of a British hostage in Algeria told today how they received a text message from him saying: “I’m safe.”
Oil worker Mark Grant, 29, apparently contacted loved ones after an agonising 36-hour wait with a text last night telling them he was alive and with the Algerian army after managing to escape the bloodbath. The married father-of-one’s wife Emma, 31, had made a tearful appeal for his safe return at their home in Grangemouth, central Scotland, yesterday, saying: “Please, I just want him to come home safe. We’ve got a little girl to think about.”
Mrs Grant had not heard anything from her husband since speaking to him shortly after militants stormed the In Amenas gas plant on Wednesday morning where he was working for BP as a project services administrator.
But last night Mr Grant brought relief and joy to those closest to him when he apparently made contact by text message.
His friend Allan McCroary told the Standard the text read: “I’m safe. Got me out this afternoon. With the Algerian army.”
Mr McCroary, a heating engineer, said: “Thank God. It was such a relief. It was the news that we’d all been hoping for. I’m not sure how he managed to get out.
“I haven’t heard from him since, but I’ve been told he’s at the army base and he will be coming home soon.
“Emma is used to him going away. He was due back yesterday. We’re all very relieved Mark is safe.”
Dramatic details have emerged from survivors who managed to get out unharmed when the Algerian army bombarded five Jeeps driven by militants trying to escape with hostages.
Stephen McFaul, the only other freed British hostage who has been named so far, was traumatised by the ordeal.
The 36-year-old’s brother Brian said he survived because his was the only Jeep out of the five not destroyed by the army.
He said: “The truck my brother was in crashed and at that stage Stephen was able to make a break for his freedom.”
The oil worker from Belfast is due to arrive back in the UK tomorrow morning. A friend, who spoke to him today, told the Standard he was deeply upset about what had happened.
The friend said: “He is physically quite scarred, in terms of the attack. It was quite gruesome and traumatic. The family are waiting in nervous anticipation. They spoke to him last night and he is in a secure camp.
“He could not really speak much because he is on a mobile phone and everything is in lockdown because of security fears as others are still missing. He is still in Algeria but he is expected to land back in London tomorrow.”
A French hostage, Alexandre Berceaux, told how he survived by hiding under a bed for nearly 40 hours.
He said: “I’ve heard there was a wounded person in the restaurant storeroom yesterday morning.”
United States Secretary of Defence Leon Panetta said in London today that there was “no justification for the kidnapping and murder of innocent people” in Algeria, and vowed the US government was “working around the clock to ensure the safe return of our citizens”.
