Wounded British photographer Paul Conroy has been safely smuggled out to Lebanon from the Syrian rebel city of Homs, his newspaper said on Tuesday, as efforts continued to rescue other Western reporters.
“The Sunday Times can confirm that the photographer Paul Conroy is safe and in Lebanon. He is in good shape and good spirits,” a spokeswoman for the newspaper said in London.
Wissam Tarif of the international activist organisation Avaaz said it coordinated his rescue from the battered city of Homs in central Syria and across the border into Lebanon.
“Avaaz coordinated with Syrian activists Conroy's exit from Homs and his arrival in Lebanon,” Tarif told AFP in Beirut:
Conroy's father also told British media that his son escaped to Lebanon. “We've just had word from Beirut,” Les Conroy said.
The freelance photographer was working for Britain's Sunday Times during a rocket attack on February 22 on a makeshift media centre in Baba Amr, a rebel stronghold in the city of Homs.
US veteran reporter Marie Colvin and French photographer Remi Ochlik were killed in the attack while French journalist Edith Bouvier and Conroy were wounded.
Two other journalists trapped in Homs are William Daniels, a photographer who also was on assignment for Le Figaro, and Spaniard Javier Espinosa who works for the Spanish daily El Mundo.
Avaaz, in a statement, said there was no information concerning the three other trapped Western journalists.
The Syrian Red Crescent, meanwhile, said its rescuers left Homs on Tuesday after talks to evacuate the trapped journalists foundered.
Thirteen activists were killed trying to assist the Western journalists and bring in aid to Baba Amr, according to Avaaz, an international NGO.
“Today, a network of Syrian activists coordinated by the global campaign organisation Avaaz helped the international journalist Paul Conroy escape into Lebanon,” Avaaz said.
“The three other journalists, Javier Espinosa, Edith Bouvier and William Daniels, remain unaccounted for,” it added.
“Three activists were killed by Syrian targeted shelling as they tried to assist the journalists through Baba Amr,” Avaaz said.
“While Paul Conroy successfully escaped the city, 10 activists died bringing relief supplies into Baba Amr,” the NGO added.
On Tuesday, the Spanish foreign ministry said Espinosa was known to be still in Homs on Monday. “The government is doing everything possible to help him,” a ministry spokesman said in Madrid.
A Lebanese activist confirmed that Conroy had been smuggled during the night from Homs to Lebanon through an illegal crossing.
“Conroy and people accompanying him entered the Wadi Khaled region through the Hnayder border village after midnight on motorbikes,” said the activist in northern Lebanon who helps smuggle wounded people out of Syria.
The northern region of Wadi Khaled borders Syria and is close to the province of Homs.
France, meanwhile, said it could not confirm reports that Bouvier had been evacuated from Syria but it remained mobilised to do everything possible to secure her rescue.
“We do not at this stage have elements that permit us to confirm what some media have reported concerning Edith Bouvier,” French foreign ministry spokesman Bernard Valero told reporters.
“We are more mobilised than ever to do everything possible to allow for the evacuation of the wounded, of all foreign journalists and our wounded compatriot, from Homs,” he said.
A senior French official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP that Bouvier remained trapped in Homs.
Conroy, 47, issued a video appeal for help last week, saying he was injured and being looked after by Free Syrian Army rebels. Bouvier was also seen urging medical assistance in another video.
Avaaz said that “35 heroic Syrian activists” volunteered to help in the evacuation process and that the operation “was carried out by Syrians with the help of Avaaz. No other agency was involved.”
“Paul Conroy's rescue today is a huge relief but this must be tempered with the news that three remain unaccounted for and with our respects for the incredibly courageous activists who died during the evacuation attempts,” said Ricken Patel, executive director of Avaaz. – Sapa-AFP