Georgia U.S.S.R. – 29th April 1991

At 0830 we found a Georgian official, who insisted we had breakfast before travelling to meet with the Minister of Police for a briefing.
At 1130 the team were taken by coach with police escort (Lada) to Cabache, a large town in the Sachkhere province. This town had suffered some minor damage to 2 storey houses and medium damage to a few public buildings, again of the small 2 storey type. The damage consisted of displaced roofs and damage to exterior walls.

We were taken to a military compound to meet with the local co-ordinator, a Georgian mountain rescue team member, who advised us that the rescue role was finished in this area and that we should move to Ambrolauri, an area near Oni where there were several villages to be searched. With him were some French medics who stated that there was no shortage of food or blankets, and that the helicopters had been grounded because of overcast weather.
On the way to Ambrolauri we were to stop at Kutaisi and get information from the Prefect of the region.

On arrival at Kutaisi at 1900 we were told to unload our equipment into a hotel as we would be staying there for the night and that our bus had to return to Tbilisi and more transport would be arranged in the morning.
At this stage the two interpreters disappeared to return a short time later with another mountain rescue co-ordinator, who was in charge of all rescue and medical relief in Georgia, he asked us to return to Cabache, to an area where search dogs had located persons buried beneath a landslide and he required confirmation if these persons were alive.

It was on the road back to Cabache at 2255 that the team came across a road traffic accident. A farm tractor with three men on board had run off the road and down a steep hill side approximately 30 metres. Members of IRC quickly established that one passenger was dead, one walking wounded and one still in the cab of the tractor with head and chest injuries. A halogen light was set up with the generator fuelled with petrol from the bus fuel tank. The injured man was removed from the tractor, placed on the canvas stretcher and given medical treatment by Graham Payne and Sue Shirley. The man was carried back up to the roadway and a short period later placed in an ambulance and transported to hospital. Throughout this 15 minute period the team worked efficiently without any instructions being given.
From that moment on, the attitude of the translators changed and we were told that without our help, the man would have stayed in the tractor for hours with no help and slowly died.

Dzhava lies about 100 k north of Tbilisi and was under the control of Red Army troops.

Before we could travel, once again problems started to arise, interpreters could not be found and the bus driver refused to take us to the Djava region; we needed permission to travel to the area.

After a further meeting with the Prefect another bus and driver were found and the equipment was transferred, the interpreters were found and permission was granted to travel.

We arrived at Gori, (65 k north-west of Tbilisi) where a meeting had been arranged with another Prefect.

At this meeting the Prefect stated that all rescue work in the region had been completed and the reports he had received from other regions stated the same, he thanked us for coming to help and presented the team with a medallion.

A team meeting followed, and the decision to return to the U.K. was made.

Arrangements were then made by the Georgian Red Cross for a flight to Moscow at 2300 and the team arrived in Moscow at 0100 on Sunday 5th.

We were met at the airport by five cars of the Georgian Representative and raced through Moscow to the Georgian Representatives residence where we were to be accommodated.

Monday 6th May, all equipment was checked and packed ready for transportation to the airport a 1030 to catch the BA flight to Heathrow at 1600.

As usual we were well looked after by BA flight crew and arrived Heathrow at 1700 London time.