I (Cecilia Aquilina) followed up with the friend of Phillip Farrugia's to see if I could find out some more detail regarding the story of the US finding a Libyan plane while searching for 9H-ABU. This is what he told me...
"I worked for IDC ( International Drilling Company ) from 1976 until I left Libya in 2003. Phillip worked for us circa 1980 when the "blowout" occurred and he got burnt. The company then changed from US owners to various Libyan owners and at the time of the crash it was owned by a Libyan from Misurata, Macloof Damuna . It was a cousin of his who was the fighter pilot who went on the search - he was also from Misurata. Macloof is quite a well known character in the Libyan oilfield"





