Charlton Adam aid worker makes 10th trip to Ukraine amid war
A British aid worker has returned to Ukraine for the10th time, saying it is vital to keep supporting people there as the war with Russia continues.Ben Allen, an architect from Charlton Adam, Somerset, first went out to the country back in 2022 when Russia launched its full-scale invasion.He told BBC Points West the need for aid in the country was greater than ever. "Last year, we were in Vovchansk distributing aid, and only six weeks later, it was invaded by Russian forces," he said.
"Some of the people we helped are now dead. It makes you wonder if it was all pointless. "But I think it's still important for Ukrainians to see support from the Western world."Ben's work takes him to vulnerable towns and villages where he delivers everything from food and sanitary products to pet supplies for animal shelters.He also brings toys and treats for children, delivers vehicles and supports rehabilitation centres for veterans.Ben said his latest trip was not just about delivering aid but also about showing people in Ukraine they had not been forgotten.
Although he is not involved in the fighting, Ben said delivering aid in a war zone comes with risks."I've got warm weather gear," Ben said. "Then obviously torches for power cuts and, really importantly, body armour. We are close to the front line, and there is shelling and drones."He added: "They love badges in Ukraine, so we pick them up and swap them for money."Being in a war zone has left a lasting impact on Ben, he says.When he is back home in Somerset, he sometimes has to take "a double take" at the sound of helicopters from nearby Yeovilton flying overhead. "Everything you hear, you think, is that a bomb? Is it an air-raid siren? What do we do?" he said. Despite the dangers, Ben said he would continue making the aid trips to Ukraine for as long as they were needed.
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Daily Mirror
3 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
‘I'm a shipwreck detective for treasure – there's billions more gold down there'
The lure of sunken treasure under the waves has wreck-hunting salvage investigators scouring the sea beds to make their millions – but ownership of the lustrous loot is always hotly contested A treasure trove of gold coins, Chinese porcelain, emeralds and pearls worth £15 billion from sunken Spanish galleon San Jose has been discovered at the bottom of the Caribbean Sea. Images of the 'holy grail' of shipwrecks were taken by salvage investigators this week, showing the final resting place of the warship. Its contents were bound for the Spanish treasury until it was ambushed by the British Navy three centuries ago. Since then, adventurers have dreamed of finding its legendary loot – including 200 tonnes of gold, silver, gems and possibly diamonds – originally destined for Panama. The lure of retrieving sunken gold has seen wreck-hunting treasure seekers go to extraordinary lengths - often in very controversial circumstances. The Spanish frigate Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes was sunk by the British off the coast of Portugal in 1804 - taking with it millions of silver – known as pieces of eight – and gold coins, said to be worth £370 million. A US treasure hunter, Odyssey Marine Exploration, scoured the sea bed in 2007 and recovered almost 500,000 of them, taking them back to America. An ensuing legal battle resulted in the treasure returned to Spain, where it is now on display in a museum in Cartagena. A notorious wreck hunter in 1988 fought for the new-found riches of the Californian gold rush, from the 'ship of gold," which sank off the coast of South Carolina in 1857. The SS Central America was carrying 21 tonnes of gold nuggets, ingots, dust and coins when a hurricane sank it on its way from Panama to New York City - scattering the gold on the sea bed. Treasure hunter Tommy Thompson used sonar to bring up thousands of gold bars and coins, worth around £220m today. He was jailed in 2015 after failing to disclose the whereabouts of the missing loot. And while a judge earlier this year agreed to end his sentence, saying he was no longer convinced 'that further incarceration is likely to coerce compliance,' he immediately began a two year sentence for a related criminal contempt charge. Finding sunken treasure is no mean feat - explaining why salvage companies want a cut of the spoils. Shipwreck detective Nigel Pickford, a maritime historian and author of Samuel Pepys and the Strange Wrecking of the Gloucester: The Shipwreck That Shocked Restoration Britain, tracks down wrecks. He tells The Mirror: 'I start with history books. I like to get back to original letters, diaries, journals, log books, particularly if there were other ships in the fleet which had log books. Perhaps those involved in the sinking or battle.' The San Jose, he says, was relatively easy to locate, because it was extremely well documented in log books of British ships involved in the skirmish. 'They could work out say within probably 100 square miles where that ship was,' he says. 'But now we're searching for wrecks in 10,000 square miles.' According to the United Nations, there are at least three million shipwrecks lying across our ocean floors, not all contain treasure, but are still of historical interest. As a maritime nation, many lie within our territorial waters. 'When you think that everything went by ship until quite recently, there are many shipwrecks around the British Isles that haven't been found. And there are some interesting aeroplane wrecks too – with gold on them,' says Nigel. 'There are probably millions of wrecks around the world. But there are many we can't touch – like the ones in shallow water around Europe, which obviously means they get looted instead. 'You'd be surprised how much is still being shipped around. It might not necessarily be gold coins, but they're still high-value cargos,' says Nigel. But looters often beat bona fide recovery operators to the treasure. 'I was looking at a 17th century Dutch wreck recently which does have the location, and there are quite a lot of Spanish shipwrecks that are charted, but they're always in shallow water. These days I'm really only interested in deep wrecks,' says Nigel. 'Trawling destroys more shipwrecks than anything. Shallow shipwrecks may be easier to find, like the San Jose, but the deeper you go, the better the bounty. 'A shallow wreck might have been trawled through, dispersed, or looted. And wreck diving is dangerous. Things go wrong, and divers can only really go down to about 300ft. You can see much better using remote-operated vehicles (ROVs). And if you're looking in 15,000ft of water with an ROV, you can be fairly sure there won't be many people that have been there before.' The type of ship also matters. Wooden wrecks like the San Jose will fall apart if touched. 'You just need to know where the cargo that you're interested in might have been stowed,' says Nigel. 'You can see from the photos, coins from the San Jose are all over the sea bed. A bit of excavation with your ROVs will bring that stuff up. 'But steel wrecks have quite a high chance of still being intact. You might have to open it up on the seabed in order to get to the cargo. The most important thing on a steel wreck is to know the stowage.' Lost deep under the waves, gold treasure can look as good now as on the day it sank. 'Gold doesn't tarnish but silver does – it goes black, but it's not seriously damaged,' explains Nigel. 'I've been working on an East India cargo with a lot of porcelain, which is almost perfect. It is extraordinary what remains on a sea bed, particularly if it's really deep and there's no oxygen.' Meanwhile, thousands of First and Second World War ships are on salvage hunters' radars. 'My father Thomas Henry Pickford was in the Navy Salvage Department during World War II,' reveals Nigel, a teacher until he joined the family business. 'There was a lot of gold coming out of Europe before the Germans invaded,' he explains. 'France, Belgium and Holland were all trying to get their gold out, as was Britain. We shipped all our gold over to Canada.' British steam merchant vessel RMS Gairsoppa was hit by a German U-boat in February 1941 and went down with 85 men and a cargo full of silver bullion. A US exploration firm recovered 48 tons of silver worth £150 million in 2011, making it one of the largest and heaviest recoveries of precious metal from a shipwreck. Passengers on board the passenger ship SS City of Cairo to Brazil didn't know their ship was carrying the multi-million pound cargo. When the ship was hit by German torpedoes in November 1942, 109 people perished and its huge cache of Indian silver rupees, bound for melting for war materials in Britain, lay undisturbed until a British expedition discovered them 1,000 miles off the African coast in 2011. One of the treasure wrecks Nigel was involved in salvaging was the £32m of silver bullion that went down with the SS Tilawa en route to East Africa in November 1942. Japanese submarines torpedoed the ship, which was known as the Indian Titanic, killing 280 and more than 2,000 silver bars, due to be minted into coins, plunged to the sea bed near the Seychelles. 'I worked on a ship in the Indian Ocean with a very, very large cargo of bars of silver. That was technically extremely successful,' adds Nigel. But while a British team successfully retrieved the treasure, a court ruled the bullion belonged to South Africa. Many shipwreck finds end in a tussle between the countries who owned the ships, the country where the treasure was found, and the salvage companies, who want their share of the bounty. And not just anybody can dive for treasure. 'There's all sorts of permits needed these days, especially environmental permits,' says Nigel. 'A country's territorial waters extend 12 nautical miles out, then there's the contingent zone which goes out another 12, then economic waters which can go out to 200 miles. Increasingly, nations are claiming control of all shipwrecks within economic waters. 'A friend of mine had his ship seized in Spain's territorial waters. He's adamant he was outside them. In UK waters you probably wouldn't get arrested in quite the same way, but it's best working in international waters.' Even once a sunken wreck is found, many countries choose to leave the treasure where it is. In 1771, a Dutch ship loaded with precious works of art destined for Catherine the Great of Russia was caught in a storm and sank. 'It was found off the coast of Finland in 1999,' says Nigel. 'But the archeologists say no one should touch anything. I don't know if the paintings have survived.' Famous sunken treasure ships yet to be discovered include the 16th century Portuguese carrack Flor de Mar, which sank off Malaysia laden with treasure on its way to the king, and a British 17th century galleon, The Merchant Royal, which was carrying £1bn in gold sits untouched 30 miles off the coast of Cornwall. Nigel says: 'Personally, I wouldn't waste my time with the Flor de Mar. I would be worried that a lot of the cargo has been pillaged. 'But I've looked for the Merchant Royal three times – it's a fantastic wreck. I'm sure I know where it is now!' And there's the Portuguese galleon Santa Rosa, which sank off Brazil after a gunpowder explosion in 1726. Nigel enthuses: 'It has a very, very valuable cargo of gold. Probably even more gold than the San Jose.' A treasure hunter's work is clearly never dull!
South Wales Guardian
4 hours ago
- South Wales Guardian
Family of Air India crash victims say they have been ‘abandoned'
Akeel Nanabawa, his wife Hannaa Vorajee and their four-year-old daughter Sara Nanabawa were returning home to the UK when they died. The Boeing 787 Dreamliner crashed shortly after take-off on Thursday in what is one of the deadliest plane accidents in terms of the number of British nationals killed. The aircraft struck a medical college hostel in a residential part of Ahmedabad, killing 241 of the 242 people on board. The sole surviving passenger was Briton Vishwash Kumar Ramesh. Air India said the plane was carrying 169 Indian nationals, 53 Britons, seven Portuguese nationals and one Canadian. Mr Nanabawa ran a recruitment firm, while his wife volunteered at a local Islamic school in Gloucester – where they lived. Members of their family have flown from the UK to Ahmedabad following last week's tragedy. 'There is no UK leadership here, no medical team, no crisis professionals stationed at the hospital,' said a family spokesman. 'We are forced to make appointments to see consular staff based 20 minutes away in a hotel, while our loved ones lie unidentified in an overstretched and under-resourced hospital.' Another family member said: 'We're not asking for miracles – we're asking for presence, for compassion, for action. 'Right now, we feel utterly abandoned.' The family also have several of what they described as 'key concerns', including a 'lack of transparency and oversight in the identification and handling of remains'. They called for a 'full crisis team' at the hospital within 24 hours, a British-run identification unit, and financial support for relatives of the victims. A local doctor had 'confirmed' the delays in releasing the bodies were 'linked to severe under-staffing', according to the families, who also called for an independent inquiry into the UK Government's response. 'Our loved ones were British citizens. They deserved better in life. They certainly deserve better in death,' the statement added. Among the Britons believed to have been on the Gatwick-bound flight was Arjun Patoliya, who had flown to Gujarat from London to scatter the ashes of his wife, Bharti. Others included radiologist Dr Prateek Joshi, from Derby, and sisters Dhir and Heer Baxi, couple Fiongal and Jamie Greenlaw-Meek, and Raxa Modha, Rudra Modha and K Mistri, from Wellingborough. UK air accident investigators are already in India and are assisting the Indian authorities. A Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office spokeswoman said: 'Our staff continue to work around the clock in the UK and India to support the families and loved ones of all those impacted by the crash. 'We have set up a Reception Centre at the Ummed Hotel, near the Ahmedabad airport, and have a dedicated helpline to provide support and advice for the families and friends of British nationals – friends or family should call 020 7008 5000. 'If you are in India, you should call +91 (11) 24192100 for support, including through in-person consular staff who are available to support families of British nationals, including accompanying them to the hospital. 'Furthermore, the UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch has deployed an investigation team to support the Indian-led investigation on the ground, and UK forensic experts are there to support the consular response.'
Powys County Times
5 hours ago
- Powys County Times
Family of Air India crash victims say they have been ‘abandoned'
The family of three Britons who were killed in the Air India plane crash are calling on the UK Government to provide more support on the ground in India. Akeel Nanabawa, his wife Hannaa Vorajee and their four-year-old daughter Sara Nanabawa were returning home to the UK when they died. The Boeing 787 Dreamliner crashed shortly after take-off on Thursday in what is one of the deadliest plane accidents in terms of the number of British nationals killed. The aircraft struck a medical college hostel in a residential part of Ahmedabad, killing 241 of the 242 people on board. The sole surviving passenger was Briton Vishwash Kumar Ramesh. Air India said the plane was carrying 169 Indian nationals, 53 Britons, seven Portuguese nationals and one Canadian. Mr Nanabawa ran a recruitment firm, while his wife volunteered at a local Islamic school in Gloucester – where they lived. Members of their family have flown from the UK to Ahmedabad following last week's tragedy. 'There is no UK leadership here, no medical team, no crisis professionals stationed at the hospital,' said a family spokesman. 'We are forced to make appointments to see consular staff based 20 minutes away in a hotel, while our loved ones lie unidentified in an overstretched and under-resourced hospital.' Another family member said: 'We're not asking for miracles – we're asking for presence, for compassion, for action. 'Right now, we feel utterly abandoned.' The family also have several of what they described as 'key concerns', including a 'lack of transparency and oversight in the identification and handling of remains'. They called for a 'full crisis team' at the hospital within 24 hours, a British-run identification unit, and financial support for relatives of the victims. A local doctor had 'confirmed' the delays in releasing the bodies were 'linked to severe under-staffing', according to the families, who also called for an independent inquiry into the UK Government's response. 'Our loved ones were British citizens. They deserved better in life. They certainly deserve better in death,' the statement added. Among the Britons believed to have been on the Gatwick-bound flight was Arjun Patoliya, who had flown to Gujarat from London to scatter the ashes of his wife, Bharti. Others included radiologist Dr Prateek Joshi, from Derby, and sisters Dhir and Heer Baxi, couple Fiongal and Jamie Greenlaw-Meek, and Raxa Modha, Rudra Modha and K Mistri, from Wellingborough.
