A BRIDGWATER family who fled Libya during the uprising have spoken of their relief to be back home.

Dave and Christina Allen had been teaching at an international school in Tripoli when anti-government unrest intensified.

The couple decided to get out for the sake of their two young children after nights of hearing gunshots.

They booked the next available flight home and experienced a tense trip to the airport in the early hours last Monday - across deserted roads and past a burning truck.

Christina, 44, said: “We knew there was going to be this ‘day of rage’ because people had been talking about it. We saw events unfold and the violence and everyone became jumpy about what was happening.

“I just thought ‘we need to get out as it’s all going to blow up’.

“It was just instinct to get out as soon as possible.”

Christina described the atmosphere at the airport as “very tense”.

She said: “We worried the flight may be cancelled and we would have to go back into town. It was so dangerous and there were no longer students at the school.”

The school closed and most of the staff fled the country. But the Allen family worry for their Libyan friends.

Christina said: “It had been peaceful there. The Libyan people as a whole are lovely, so kind and it’s horrific what’s happening to them.”