Latest news with #ChrisGarrett
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Yahoo
Bomb expert killed in Ukraine to be repatriated
The body of a bomb disposal specialist who was killed in Ukraine is due to be repatriated to the Isle of Man later. Chris Garrett died in an incident in Izyum, in the east of the country, on 6 May. The 40-year-old was volunteering with the Ukraine National Guard, after previously helping in the country in both 2014 and 2017. He returned again when war broke out in February 2022. Organising a cavalcade to escort Mr Garrett to his home town of Peel, veteran Jim Quinn said: "It was the very least we could do to bring this hero home to his family. Taking him down through his home town one last time is a privilege and an honour." Mr Garrett had been working to clear mines and train Ukrainian troops after co-founding a humanitarian and mine clearance charity called Prevail Together. Mr Quinn served in the Royal Corps of Signals in the British Army for 14 years, including tours of Bosnia and Afghanistan. He said: "The respect and admiration that Chris has out in Ukraine is mirrored here within both the Ukrainian community and the Manx community." The veteran first met the bomb disposal specialist in 2014, later joining him in Ukraine for two missions delivering humanitarian aid in Kyiv. Mr Garrett's remains will be met with a guard of honour, with members of his family also present. The Moddey Dhoo Motorcycle Club will then lead the cavalcade from Ballasalla to Peel on the west coast of the island. Chairman Brian Corrie said: "It's an honour to be able to do something to help the family." He added that one of their members also served in Ukraine with Mr Garrett, and he would be among those taking part. The convoy is due to leave at 15:30 BST. Read more stories from the Isle of Man on the BBC, watch BBC North West Tonight on BBC iPlayer and follow BBC Isle of Man on Facebook and X. Bomb disposal expert killed in Ukraine 'died a hero' Manx bomb disposal specialist killed in Ukraine Manx bomb disposal specialist helping in Ukraine
BBC News
23-05-2025
- General
- BBC News
Chris Garrett: Bomb expert killed in Ukraine to be repatriated to Isle of Man
The body of a bomb disposal specialist who was killed in Ukraine is due to be repatriated to the Isle of Man Garrett died in an incident in Izyum, in the east of the country, on 6 40-year-old was volunteering with the Ukraine National Guard, after previously helping in the country in both 2014 and 2017. He returned again when war broke out in February a cavalcade to escort Mr Garrett to his home town of Peel, veteran Jim Quinn said: "It was the very least we could do to bring this hero home to his family. Taking him down through his home town one last time is a privilege and an honour." Mr Garrett had been working to clear mines and train Ukrainian troops after co-founding a humanitarian and mine clearance charity called Prevail Together. 'An honour' Mr Quinn served in the Royal Corps of Signals in the British Army for 14 years, including tours of Bosnia and said: "The respect and admiration that Chris has out in Ukraine is mirrored here within both the Ukrainian community and the Manx community."The veteran first met the bomb disposal specialist in 2014, later joining him in Ukraine for two missions delivering humanitarian aid in Garrett's remains will be met with a guard of honour, with members of his family also Moddey Dhoo Motorcycle Club will then lead the cavalcade from Ballasalla to Peel on the west coast of the Brian Corrie said: "It's an honour to be able to do something to help the family."He added that one of their members also served in Ukraine with Mr Garrett, and he would be among those taking convoy is due to leave at 15:30 BST. Read more stories from the Isle of Man on the BBC, watch BBC North West Tonight on BBC iPlayer and follow BBC Isle of Man on Facebook and X.
ITV News
23-05-2025
- ITV News
Body of British bomb disposal expert who died in Ukraine returned to Isle of Man
The body of a bomb disposal expert who died volunteering in Ukraine after "saving countless lives" is being returned to the Isle of Man. Chris Garrett, 40, had dedicated years to clearing landmines and was helping train Ukrainian troops when he was killed by an improvised device in the city of Izyum on Tuesday, 6 May. The father-of-one had co-founded a humanitarian and mine clearance charity called Prevail Together with his partner Courtney Pollock. An investigation is now ongoing into the fatal explosion, which also killed one of Mr Garrett's colleagues, an Australian national, and injured a third man. The 40-year-old's body will be returned to hometown of Peel on Friday, 23 May. A guard of honour is being formed at Ronaldsway Airport before a motorcade made up of vehicles flying Manx, British and Ukrainian flags, will travel to Peel. A fundraiser launched to support the family of Mr Garrett, who had a one-year-old daughter, raised more than 10,000 US dollars (£7,543) within a day of being launched. Prevail Together board member Shaun Pinner confirmed the news of Chris' death and said his "legacy will carry on" through the charity's work and he would be "like a talisman" for the organisation after his death. He said: 'Chris was a talisman. He was driven by the injustices Russia are doing here. He brought mine awareness to children through to adults and had knowledge which will be deeply missed. "The outpouring has been really emotional. Local communities have all reached out to us. He knew everyone in the military and police as well as all the civilian communities. "The amount of lives he has saved, I can't count them. He's pulled out tons and tons of mines.'
Times
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Times
Chris ‘Swampy' Garrett obituary: bomb disposal expert killed in Ukraine
In March a Russian court convicted Chris 'Swampy' Garrett of terrorism charges in absentia. It sentenced him to 14 years in jail. Garrett was a largely self-taught bomb disposal expert from the Isle of Man who had been working in Ukraine for almost a decade. He called the conviction 'a pathetic attempt to smear me by those who have murdered, raped and tortured thousands of civilians in Ukraine'. His job was 'about preserving life, not taking it'. But the conviction was a back-handed compliment: it showed that his very considerable contribution to Ukraine's war effort had riled President Putin's regime in Moscow. At great personal risk, Garrett had defused thousands of tonnes of landmines planted by Russian troops, as well as countless booby traps and
The Independent
17-05-2025
- Health
- The Independent
‘This is what death feels like': The terrifying reality of Ukraine's landmine crisis
Dmytro Guzha was returning home with his wife Elena when he felt the explosion beneath his feet – and then nothing. 'After that, I didn't hear or see anything at all,' the 49-year-old says. He regained consciousness a few minutes later and his focus turned to Elena. 'I was really worried about my wife because I saw her and she didn't move. Then I wanted to try to get closer to her but I couldn't because my leg didn't move.' That was the result of the explosion that had ripped through his lower half. The Ukrainian city of Chuhuiv, in the northeastern region of Kharkiv, faced heavy Russian bombardment in the opening weeks of Vladimir Putin 's invasion of Ukraine, which started on 24 February 2022. Guzha could see and hear explosions in the air as he and Elena took their ill-fated trip to the bakery. After the couple, married more than 20 years, had picked up some bread, they started walking the familiar route home. Then Guzha's life changed forever. Ukraine is the most mine-contaminated country in the world, with an estimated 23 per cent of its land littered with explosive devices. According to the country's National Mine Action Authority, an estimated 340 civilians have been killed by exploding landmines since Russia's full-scale invasion began in 2022, with another 1,195 people injured by. Earlier this month, mine clearance specialist Chris Garrett died after being critically injured during an incident near Izyum, east Ukraine, after clearing mines in Ukraine for 10 years – having started in 2014 when the conflict in Ukraine's east between government forces and Russian-backed separatists began. 'Weeks of nightmare' After the blast, Guzha tried to call an ambulance, but he couldn't see anything. His wife managed to make the call, despite heavy injuries to her hip. An ambulance arrived quickly and took them to Chuhuiv hospital. From the moment they arrived at the city's hospital, the couple experienced 'three weeks of nightmare' due to constant bombardment. Guzha was told by the doctor that his leg might have to be amputated, and he pleaded for them to try and save it. 'Just try to do something', he asked the doctor. 'Because you can always cut it off, it's the easiest thing to do, but try to do something.' For three weeks, they stayed in the hospital 'without doctors, without any supply, without electricity, without water because of constant bombardment'. It was a daily struggle for doctors to even travel to the hospital to treat people without getting injured themselves. They realised that they had to get out of the hospital and the city or they risked being trapped there. But the road out of Chuhuiv hospital was under such heavy daily bombardment that people who had been killed on the highway only had their corpses removed from their cars six months later. 'A miracle escape' Guzha and his wife managed to evacuate on 7 April in what he describes as a 'miracle'. It was the only day there was no bombardment. In fact, he describes it as a 'quite sunny, quite bright and beautiful day'. The couple were taken to Kremenchuk hospital, where doctors were able to save Guzha's leg. For the first seven months, they replaced 20 centimetres of his leg with a metal plate. 'Every time I make a step or I'm trying to make a step, it sounds like there's some gravel in the washing machine,' he jokes. After he was treated, he was told it would take him a year to walk again. Two and a half years on from his injuries, he and his wife now live in Kremenchuk and spend 'pretty much all the time we have' in hospital. Not only do they continue to recover from their physical injuries, but their psychological ones as well. Guzha has nightmares every day about what he went through. He reflects on his time in Chuhuiv hospital, where, after all his injuries, he 'couldn't sleep for the first 10 days at all, then the next year after that, I had nightmares every single night'. 'I lost sight on the spot' Guzha isn't the only person who suffers nightmares because of a landmine attack. After surviving a landmine attack in 2019, Dmytro Slepkan, 30, would see his dead colleague in his dreams. The former commander for the State Emergency Service's pyrotechnics unit was left permanently blind by a landmine his squad had tried to de-mine in the Donetsk region. 'I lost sight on the spot,' he says. 'All I saw was some red and black emptiness. I felt like I was falling down into some hole. 'I thought this is what death felt like.' Slepkan struggled to readjust to the world following his injury, and was left in a state of 'despair' as he struggled to get a job. He now works for the Association of Minesweepers of Ukraine as a mine victim assistant. His previous experience means he intimately understands how a person who has been through a mining injury might feel. Last year, Slepkan became a father to a baby boy, Henadii. While he and his wife Daria live in the 'relatively safe city' of Poltava, he continues to worry for his family's safety. 'That's the biggest pain in my soul', he says, 'because at my work I get to see a lot of cases where babies and children are getting injured.' More than 138,000 square kilometres of Ukrainian territory still needs to be surveyed for landmines, covering an area of land the size of Portugal, according to fundraising platform UNITED 24. The organisation is in the process of raising £1.12m to help de-mine sites across the regions of Kherson, Kyiv and Kharkiv, including schools, hospitals, forests and playgrounds. Slepkan is determined that no one else should have to go through what he has experienced. 'Our activity is not just a simple activity, it's the mission to make Ukraine safe, and sooner or later we're going to do it,' he says. 'I want none of the kids in the world to ever know what an air raid is, what war is, what explosions are.'
