CYPRUS: ONE NEWSMAN IS KILLED AND OTHERS ARE WOUNDED WHEN THEIR CONVOY RUNS INTO A MINEFIELD

Record ID: 378624

  • Title: CYPRUS: ONE NEWSMAN IS KILLED AND OTHERS ARE WOUNDED WHEN THEIR CONVOY RUNS INTO A MINEFIELD
  • Date: 9th August 1974
  • Summary: 1. SV PAN French reporter walking towards roadside, then explosion 0.05 2. GV Limping reporter running from mine back to car(2 shots) 0.19 3. SV & MV PAN Turkish soldier approaching to assist Dring lying near fatally wounded man -Soldier takes Dring's arm and leads him toward's safety(5 shots) 0.58 4. GV Turkish soldier with Dring, PAN to Steddart and soldier helping Dring out of minefield and into jeep(5 shots) 1.31 5. MV PAN Body being taken by soldiers out of field PAN to Dring speaking as jeep moves off 2.16 6. SV Driver at jeep along read past villagers (2 shots) 2.24 7. MV & SV Dring assisted out of jeep and laid on ground as villagers watch (3 shots) 2.38 8. SV & MV Wounded man is placed in ambulance (3 shots) 2.51 DRING: "It only goes to show just how badly defined the front lines are in this war between the Greek and the Turks here in Cyprus. At least on the Greek side the minefields are marked very clearly with barbed wire and (indistinct) lines.l Here on the Turk's side, where there's no front line marked at all, mines have been indiscriminately sown across the road and nobody ever makes any attempt to stop you crossing them. There are no checkpoints, nothing. Today it's no man's land, but hopefully one day it will be policed by the United Nations." Initials ET/346 ET/415 SATELLITE TELERECORDING Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 24th August 1974 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: near LAPITHOS, CYPRUS
  • Country: Cyprus
  • Reuters ID: LVA7QXBBIEJTH0IHH6RBDO9X7KRB
  • Story Text: A British newsman was killed in Cyprus on Thursday (August 8) when the convoy he was travelling with ran into a minefield in a disputed area north-east of Nicosia.

    Ted Stoddart, a sound recordist with the British Broadcasting Corporation crew was fatally wounded by an exploding mine after getting out of the leading car to warn the other newsman travelling behind who did not know they were in a minefield.

    Remarkable film of the incident, including one of the newsman being wounded by another mine exploding, comes from Visnews cameraman Martin Fletcher who was travelling with the convoy.

    Five journalists were injured by exploding mines before the convoy could retreat to safety. The BBC television journalist, Simon Dring was wounded in the leg by shrapnsl as he went to help Stoddart. A Turkish Captain led him out of the danger area. On his way to hospital, lying wounded in the back of a jeep, Dring filed this report.

    Dring is new in a Turkish military hospital. The other wounded men were taken to hospital in Nicosia.

    A French photographer who came running towards Dring and Stoddart after they were wounded was also injured by a mine.

    SYNOPSIS: The convey of newsmen in four cars was driving into a disputed area of the island near the village of Lapithes in the nerth-???aast. Their cars were desked with British, American and white flags, but there was no warning of the minefield except the fresh earth that Dring, driving the first car, saw.

    The Turks dressed Dring's wounds at the field hospital, and then transferred him to a hospital at Bogaz.

    His injuries and these of the others were not reported to be serious.

    They were taken to hospital in Nicosia.

    On Thursday night the Foreign Ministers of British, Turkey and Greece renewed afforts to bring peace to Cyprus at a meeting in Geneva.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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