One of the most enduring stories regarding the loss of flight 9H-ABU involves Andrew Williams, the nephew of one of the passengers on the plane.
Like all the families, the Boomer family had initially believed that there had simply been a tragic mid-flight accident. While the search continued without finding any evidence of the crash we held on to the slim hope that there may be some good news. As time passed the realisation began to seep in that the chance of finding survivors diminished with each day that the search failed to find the plane.
Then, on the afternoon of Friday 15th December 1995, Geoffrey William’s called Cormac Boomer. What Geoff told Cormac Boomer was almost unbelievable.
During the conversation Geoff Williams explained he was the brother of Michael Williams, who was reported to be a passenger on 9H-ABU. He told my father that his brother Michael had a son, Andrew, who was a serving officer in HM Royal Navy. On hearing of his father's disappearance he obtained immediate leave of absence and travelled to Malta and was present on the island during the period of the 8 day international search for the missing aircraft.
According to Geoff Williams his nephew rang him each evening to brief him on the search and update him on the progress of his own enquiries. On the evening of the 12th December 1995 Andrew rang his uncle and told him that he had been in a government building where he met with an official, who he named as Philip Scibberas. Andrew was shown into an office, the staff where instructed to leave the office, the door was closed and when alone this official told him, “we feel you have a right to know your father's plane did not go down in the water, it went down on land and we know where it is”. Andrew asked, "how do you know where it is?". Mr. Scibberas answered, "our surveillance systems monitored its distress beacon for several hours after it was reported missing". Andrew asked if it was in Tunisia or Libya. Mr. Scibberas answered, "It is on the ground in Tripoli, now let me make it perfectly clear, if you repeat this conversation to anyone outside this room I will deny that I ever made such statements". At this point the official excused himself and left the office.
Now I should make it clear that I am only relating his story as it was told to my father. I am not making any connections here with Dr. Philip Sciberras who was appointed to lead the Public Inquiry investigating the disappearance of flight 9H-ABU. Dr. Scibberas has made it very clear through his lawyers that he had never met with Andrew Williams and never made the statements that are attributed to the person who spoke with Andrew Williams.
So what do we know about what happened that day.
Andrew William’s sister confirmed that she accompanied her brother to the government building and that he did meet an official who took him in to an office. Unfortunately she was not actually in the office to witness the conversation but she also confirmed that Andrew told her the same information that he later disclosed to his uncle.
We know that Geoff Williams was unequivocal in his statements about what he was told by Andrew. Both he and Cormac Boomer submitted affidavits to the inquiry as evidence based on his conversations Geoff had with his nephew.
As far as I know Andrew Williams has never made any public statement to either confirm or deny the circumstances surrounding this event, apparently hiding behind the fact that as a member of the armed forces he is bound by their code of secrecy.
The consequences of Andrews disclosure to his uncle about what was discussed in that government office have been far reaching and even now, many years later, still has the power to create uncertainty and intrigue. What happened in that office was one of the pivotal events in the mystery...providing possible links to both the disappearance of 9H-ABU and also to the assassination of Fathi Shqaqi...these events would remain inextricably linked.
So why would someone make such a statement and then remain silent about it, what where the personal motivations behind this.
Are we to believe that this was a misguided attempt by Andrew Williams to help him come to terms with his grief? Would the loss of his father be more bearable if he created a fantasy that could in his head allow for the possibility that his father could still be alive? Are we also to believe that he would then involve other members of his family in this fantasy? I don’t think this is a plausible explanation.
Should we believe that this was the action of a young man simply wanting to become the center of attention in what was a major news event on the island of Malta? Would anyone really be prepared to subject their family to years of uncertainty and anguish simply to satisfy his own selfish needs…again I find this hard to believe?
Is it not more believable that this young navy officer, who on his own initiative travelled to Malta to be involved in the navy search for his father and being a member of the navy was made privy to information that he was then instructed not to share. Would his family loyalty then compel this young man to share the information with his father’s brother. Was this young officer then put under pressure by the same authorities to remain silent about what had been discussed?
If the conversation that Andrew reported had occurred in isolation and there was no other corroborating evidence then it would be hard to assign any real significance to it. However, when other evidence began to surface, like the suggestions that the pilot Carmelo Bartolo was implicated in the death of the Fathi Shqaqi, like the distress signal from the COSPASS Satelitte system which clearly indicates the source of the distress signal as coming from Libya, it became increasingly hard to dismiss Andrew Williams story as being one of pure fantasy.
In the documentary shown on Malta TV Matthew Aqualina showed the printout of the distress signal and questioned the official story that the plane had crashed in to the sea.