A north Wales man who survived an air crash into the Mediterranean has spoken of his horrific ordeal.

Philip Whitley of Salem Road in Coedpoeth, Wrexham escaped the aircraft by climbing through a hole in the rear of the plane.

In total 22 people were killed in the accident including five British oil workers.

Mr Whitley said the aircraft had hit the water as the emergency was announced by the stewardess.

"I held on to the tail of the 'plane and that started to sink so I looked around for something else and found a small cushion," he told BBC Wales.

"I was in the water for 25-30 minutes and the water was quite choppy. I thought, 'hold on and someone will come for us'."

After being found by local fishermen, the survivors have been coming to terms with their ordeal and waiting to return home.

Mr Whitley is waiting for his lost passport and visa to be replaced before facing the experience of boarding an aeroplane to Wales.

His wife Gaynor said the first she heard about the crash was when her husband phoned to say he was alright.

Sadness

Mr Whitley was one of 13 British people on board the plane which crashed into the Mediterranean last week.

Mrs Whitley said her husband's relief at surviving the crash has been tinged by sadness as the two men he was sharing accommodation with in Libya were both killed.

The twin-engined plane was carrying 38 passengers, two crew and one flight attendant from Tripoli to an oil refinery at Marsa el Brega when it suffered a catastrophic breakdown on Thursday.

Five people, including one Briton, are still unaccounted for.

Ahmed Aoun, chairman of Sirte Oil, the company which leased the plane said the search for the remaining missing passengers had been dogged by storms.

Crash probe

A one-metre-square section of the fuselage was all that had been recovered.

The seven Britons who were among 19 survivors would remain in Libya while replacement travel documents were completed, he added.

Sirte Oil would then fly home any workers who wished to return to their families.

British air accident experts have now arrived in Libya to try to establish why the Belfast-built Shorts SD-360 ditched in the Mediterranean