HOLIDAY TURNED TO DASH FROM HELL
Neil Syson in Tbilisi
The Sun
Aug 12, 2008
UK
A BRITISH family on a horse trekking holiday told yesterday of their
terror as they fled war-torn Georgia.
Chris Wills, wife Melissa and their two teenage girls tried to catch
a flight out but found the airport shut by a bombing raid. Instead
they headed to neighbouring Armenia in a taxi.
Speaking before climbing into the cab in capital Tbilisi’s Freedom
Square — named after Georgia’s breakaway from Soviet masters in 1991
— Melissa said: "It’s a huge relief to get away from this."
Calm before the storm … sisters India and Iona pose happily with
Georgian troops in Tusheti The jewellery designer, 49, brand consultant
Chris, 51, and daughters India, 17, and 15-year-old Iona were due to
spend two weeks in Tusheti, in Georgia’s wild north.
Danger It lies just 20 miles from South Ossetia’s bombarded capital
Tskhinvali.
Chris, of Highbury, North London, said: "Our guide told us a war had
started not far away. We could not believe it.
Click on our slideshow to see more pictures of the war-torn country.
"Our Georgian friends told us in no uncertain terms to leave as soon
as possible.
"We had a four-hour drive back to Tbilisi. You could sense danger in
the air.
"We saw Georgian soldiers in army trucks giving clenched fist salutes
heading out of town.
"It crossed my mind that the Russians could easily advance to where
we were.
"There was no option but to arrange a taxi and head for the Armenian
capital of Yerevan nearly 200 miles away. We have to stay for four
days before we can fly out."
The Foreign Office said there are now fewer than 200 Britons in
Georgia. They were being advised to leave by road into Armenia or
Azerbaijan to the south.
Meanwhile our embassy shut up shop and moved to a safer location
in Tbilisi.
Guards outside the building in Freedom Square said: "Closed today,
we think closed tomorrow — we don’t know when it will be open."
A Briton who did not want to be named said he was turned away.
He added: "I was told staff have moved to safer quarters."
The embassy shares a block with companies including UK airline BMA,
which has suspended daily direct flights to Tbilisi. Its open location
would make an easy target.
Last night a Foreign Office spokesman insisted the embassy "continues
to provide a full service".