I love you: Final message to wife of oil executive in terror attack

 
Grief: Claudia Gaviria with her husband Carlos Estrada, who died during the siege (Picture: PA)
Simon Freeman9 October 2014

A BP executive from London killed during a terrorist attack on a gas plant in Algeria left his wife a final voicemail message saying: “I love you.”

Carlos Estrada, 44, was among 40 workers, including six Britons, who died after al Qaeda-linked terrorists stormed the In Amenas complex on January 16 last year.

The father-of-two sent his wife Claudia Gaviria a series of text messages after the gunmen hijacked two staff buses and forced their way into the living quarters, an inquest heard.

Raid: the In Amenas plant in Algeria (Picture: EPA)

The first read: “Love, there was an attack on the camp with lots of shooting. It is okay, it is fine. I love you.”

Mr Estrada, a Colombian who had worked for BP for 18 years and risen to become a vice president, later asked his wife not to tell one of their daughters about the escalating situation “so she is relaxed for the exam”.

As the four-day siege wore on, he texted: “I am okay my darling. The worst is over and the situation is returning to normal.”

But at around 9pm that night, Mr Estrada left a voicemail on his wife’s landline again telling her he loved her. Speaking to the inquest at the Royal Courts of Justice, Ms Gaviria said: “He did not say anything about the situation in Algeria. I think he was crying.”

It was the last contact she had with her husband. Some 29 hostage-takers died alongside captives in pitched gun battles during an Algerian special forces mission to end the bloodshed.

Ms Gaviria told the coroner, Judge Nicholas Hilliard QC, that she believed her husband had been “pressured” by other executives into travelling to a meeting at the complex, which was jointly run by BP and other firms.

She said: “I strongly believe that had Carlos known of the risks posed, he would not have elected to travel to Algeria.”

Britons Kenneth Whiteside, 59, Carson Bilsland, 46, Sebastian John, 26, Stephen Green, 47, Paul Morgan, 46 and Garry Barlow, 50, also died during the siege. The inquests continue.

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