N.S. man safe in Libya

A Dartmouth man who was fleeing armed Libyan rebels with two other oil rig workers is now in a safe location, says his employer.

Brad Bellows, a spokesman for Suncor Energy Inc., said Glenn Sutherland and the other workers are safe.

"Most Suncor employees have left the country. A small number remain. All, including Mr. Sutherland, are in safe locations," Bellows said in a release. 

"We have been in contact with Mr. Sutherland's family to provide updated information. We will continue to monitor the situation in Libya and respond accordingly."

His wife, Cassandra Sutherland, said she was elated to hear the news.

"Oh, it was great. I just wanted to get him outta there as fast he can. I just want him home so bad," she said. "It's just fantastic news. I'll be happier when he's out of Tripoli and somewhere else."

She may be able to talk to her husband by phone Tuesday morning to find out when he'll be home.

Glenn Sutherland had called his parents in Coldbrook on Monday and told them that one rig had been attacked and set ablaze. The rebels then moved on to the rig he had been working on.

Iris Sutherland received the gut-wrenching call from her son just after lunch Monday.

"They were just raided by armed rebels on the oil rig that he is on in the desert," Sutherland said her son told her.

"Their provisions are very low and they were packing what they could … and heading out into the desert to try and make it to a camp, a second camp that's about 10 miles or kilometres away."

Glenn Sutherland, a 30-year-old father of three, has been working on the oil rigs in Libya for five years.

He was supposed to fly to Tripoli from the land rig where he works Monday, but that's when the attack happened.

The satellite phone was on the rig, Iris Sutherland said, so the family had no way to contact him.