BAE SYSTEMS MANAGER ROSS BISHOP WAS RUSHED TO SAFETY

Lancashire Evening Post
Wednesday, 13th August 2008
UK

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backpacker has spoken of his "evacuation" from war-ravaged Georgia.

BAE Systems manager Ross Bishop was rushed to safety away from
advancing Russian troops as he was finishing a 10-day walking
holiday in the remote Svaneti region – less than 60 miles away from
heavily-bombed South Ossetia.

The 31-year-old, of Princes Reach, Ashton, was one of 11 travellers
enjoying an adventure mountain trip when trouble flared up last
Thursday night.

But news of the fighting in the break-away region did not fully get
through until Saturday. Luckily, it was in time to avert the group from
heading through the city of Gori, which was heavily bombed and occupied
by Russian troops on Monday, and on to the closed Tbilisi Airport.

Mr Bishop, who works on the Eurofighter project at Warton, said:
"It could have been a near miss. We didn’t face any direct danger
but if I was travelling alone I would have headed for Gori.

"We had started to hear stories when fighting started and there was
a feeling of dread and ‘oh no, not again’ among the Georgian people."

The keen traveller, who has previously visited Pakistan and the
Himalayas, said his Georgian guide later broke down in tears afraid
her younger brother could be enlisted in the army. She also received
a text message from a friend who had seen aircraft harrier destroyed
by Russian bombers.

The group was taken quickly by minibus along rough roads down to
Armenia where Mr Bishop found one of the last spaces on a flight from
Yerevan back to Heathrow on Monday. He had to wait four hours for a
visa as he joined the thousands rushing to get through the border.

Mr Bishop was reassured to take the trip with London-based Wild
Frontiers despite the Foreign Office previously issuing advice against
travelling to the region.

The group, which ranged of men and women aged between 31 and 59,
paid around £1,175 each for the trip, excluding flights.

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