UK NEWSBRITONS FLEE RED ARMY’S BATTLE ZONE
By Mark Reynolds and Will Stewart

UK Express
Wednesday August 13,2008
UK

A terrified group of British tourists found themselves directly in
the path of the advancing Russian army, it emerged yesterday.

As Russian president Dmitry Medvedev called a halt to military action,
it was revealed how the Britons, on a walking holiday in Georgia,
had to flee for their lives from the Red Army.

The 11 men and women, aged between 31 and 59, were finishing a 10-day
mountain trip on Saturday and were completely oblivious to the outbreak
of a war that has cost more than 2,000 lives.

As they descended from a mountain, the party suddenly came into mobile
phone contact from people in the city of Kutaisi – and were stunned
to learn the entire Red Army was fast heading their way.

Jonny Bealby, of travel company Wild Frontiers, said: "Sometimes we
have to get people out of tricky situations – but I’ve never had to
deal with a full advancing army before."

One of the group, engineer Ross Bishop, 31, from Preston, Lancs,
told how their phones started ringing as they reached a remote village.

He said: "When we drove towards the border we saw military transport
carrying troops. It’s a new one for me, being on holiday in a war
zone."

They were driven through the mountains in 4x4s and a minibus then
took them to safety in Armenia. Most flew home yesterday.

Mr Bealby said: "The party would not have known much about the war
until they got to Kutaisi. At that stage the fighting wasn’t as
serious as it became. But we knew from our experience of that region
that the city of Gori was a possible target.

"As it turned out the party was literally 48 hours in front of the
Russian army – and directly in its path."

Gori later came under heavy Russian bombardment, causing hundreds of
Georgian families to flee.

Two Britons – David McDowell, a teacher at Fettes College, in
Edinburgh, and his friend Gavin Adams – refused to break their holiday
in Georgia.

They had travelled to Gori to see the birthplace of Joseph Stalin. Mr
McDowell said: "We’ve paid for this holiday and we’re going to
enjoy it."

Last night the Foreign Office said about 350 Britons were still trying
to escape the war-torn country and it was providing coaches from the
capital Tbilisi to help the evacuation.

A group of the most vulnerable, mostly the elderly and children,
was last night due to be flown to Paris.