Nile trek man speaks of shooting

Mr McGrigor suffered burns in the attack in Uganda

One of the leaders of an expedition trekking to the source of the Nile has spoken of the moment its members were attacked by rebels in Uganda.

Team co-leader Neil McGrigor, from Lymington, Hampshire, was injured in the attack on Tuesday, in which a British man was killed.

Steve Willis, who managed a Ugandan tourist camp, had been driving the Ascend the Nile team when he was shot.

Mr McGrigor, who suffered burns, said he thought he would be killed too.

The team had set off in September from Rashid, Egypt, to attempt the first complete ascent of the river.

At one point he thought they were going to shoot him Tracey Clarke, expedition press officer

The British and New Zealand expedition was attacked in the Murchison Falls National Park in northern Uganda at 1100 GMT by Lord's Resistance Army rebels.

Mr McGrigor told the BBC: "A couple of rebels stepped out onto the road that we were travelling on and started firing on our vehicle.

"We veered off the road and crashed and we all scattered."

Mr McGrigor said of Mr Willis' death: "It is just tragic. I do not know what to say about that. My sympathies go out to the family."

Both Mr McGrigor and another expedition member Garth MacIntyre were injured in the attack.

"Before the vehicle crashed it was raked with gun fire and bullets went all through the vehicle and one basically cut through (Mr MacIntyre's) skull, it ricocheted off his skull.

Unable to escape

"In trying to put out the fire I have got burns on my body and on my right hand side," said Mr McGrigor, a father-of-two.

Because of an earlier ankle injury, Mr McGrigor was unable to escape and was brought back to the vehicle by the rebels.

Although they did not harm him further, Tracey Clarke, the expedition's press officer, said: "At one point he thought they were going to shoot him."

The rebels then stole items from the vehicle before setting it alight.

The team have since been airlifted from the park by helicopter and taken to Gulu, in the north of the country.

A decision on the future of the trip will be decided later on Wednesday.