Fire engine for war-torn village

The fire engine has been donated by the Cornwall Fire Brigade

A Sussex-based charity is taking an old fire engine to a once war-torn village in Croatia.

Workers from Eastbourne's Mustard Seed Relief Missions are delivering the vehicle to Pokupsko, which has been without a fire engine for 14 years.

Spokesman Owen Visick said it had been unable to extinguish fires since then.

The engine has been donated by Cornwall fire brigade, and is the latest in a long line of relief packages that the charity has sent out to Croatia.

Pokupsko was severely damaged by Serbian artillery fire at the beginning of the war with Croatia in 1991.

John Greenwood, from the charity, is driving the fire engine to the charity's office in Zagreb.

"It's not humanitarian aid as such but we think it's a good thing with a community like that, which is still struggling to recover after 14yrs - it shows them somebody is interested," he said.