Desmond Boomer, a Belfast engineer working in the Libyan oil-fields, disappeared in December 1995. Officially the plane on which he was a passenger, crashed as a result of mechanical failure and pilot error. His travelling companions were an English engineer Michael Williams (49), a Polish national Tadeus Gorny (48) and Maltese nationals Philip Farrugia (43) and Matthew Aquilina (22).The pilot, Carmelo Bartolo (47) was also Maltese.
But is that the real story or did Desmond and his fellow passengers become unwitting victims of the shady war between Islamic fundamentalism and Mossad, Israel's intelligence network
Desmond Boomer was my older brother and this site will tell the story of flight 9H-ABU through the experiences of my family, our father and mother, Desmond's wife and children and his brothers and sisters. My father, Cormac Boomer and my mother,Alice Boomer, spent many years after Desmond's disappearance working closely with the families of the other missing men, trying to find an answer that they could accept and live with.
Unfortunately, our father died after a long battle with cancer in May 2008. While I believe he had accepted he would never see his son again, I know he would have died a happier man if he had known for certain what had happened in Djerba on the night of 3rd December 1995.
My primary goal in creating the website is that the site will become a focal point for all the families involved in this tragedy. Whatever happened on that night in Djerba affected many people in multiple countries and those geographical, political, religious and language barriers made it almost impossible for the families to communicate and collaborate effectively.
The site will attempt to document the evidence related to the ill-fated flight, the theories surrounding the disappearance and highlight the failings of the British, Irish, Maltese and Tunisian governments to thoroughly investigate the circumstances surrounding the disappearance the men named above.
We are fortunate now that we live in a world unhindered by geographical, political, religious and language barriers. Internet technology and social media makes it possible to reach out to any person anywhere in the world. If I know only one thing for sure about this mystery, it is this, someone, somewhere knows the truth behind the events that took place in Djerba on that night in December 1995.
So I am now reaching out to all the families affected by the tragedy and anyone else who may be able to help. If you want to be involved or have any information that may help us then please contact me through this web site.
There isn't a lot of content on the site just now but this will grow over time. My family alone has 1000's of documents detailing all aspects of the search and I'm sure that all the families have drawers and cupboards holding similar collections. It will take some time to catalogue and build the content so please be patient.
While I have my own plans and ideas for the development of the site I am open to any suggestions that anyone has to make this site more effective in obtaining its goals. I honestly believe that we still have an opportunity to discover the truth behind what happened in Tunisia on the 3rd December 1995. To achieve this we must work collectively and exploit all the technologies we have at our disposal.
It should go without saying that the ultimate goal is to find out what happened to the men who should have boarded flight 9H-ABU from Djerba airport to Luqa Airport, Malta. However, should this site serve no purpose other than to remember the men who are missing and document and recognise the efforts of their families in trying to find them, then it will be worth the effort.
A Special MentionI'd like at this point to make a personal thank you to Don Mullan. Don Mullan is a world renown investigative journalist and author of "Eyewitness Bloody Sunday". Don spent many hours working with my father to try and uncover the truth behind what happened to my brother and the other missing men.
The story you are about to read, Death In The Mediterranean, is based in large part on an article that Don Mullan wrote in January 2003. The original article was published in Dublin based magazine Magill.