Photographer Giles Duley Gravely Injured By Mine Blast In Afghanistan

 

[UPDATE FEBRUARY 17, 2011] Photographer Giles Duley's family released the following statement today through the University Hospitals Birmingham media communications manager: "Giles has been through an extremely traumatic experience over the past week. His injuries are severe and complex but his doctors assure us his progression is as would be expected. It will be a long road ahead for Giles but knowing him as we do we are sure he will face this enormous challenge with the determination he has always demonstrated. His family are by his side throughout and his friends are waiting to lend their support as soon as he is well enough."

 

BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND (February 12, 2011) – British photojournalist Giles Duley, 39, is in stable but critical condition in Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham today after stepping on a pressure-plate that detonated a land mine in Afghanistan's rural Sangsar on Monday while he was on patrol with American troops.

Flown from the blast site to the NATO military hospital at Kandahar Air Field by a military medical evacuation team, Duley underwent triple amputation surgery there before being flown back to England for additional operations.

No one else was injured in the blast.

The photographer's brother, David Duley, told The New York Times that Duley lost one leg below the knee, the other leg above the knee, and his left arm was severed above the elbow. He told Times journalist CJ Chivers that his brother was fortunate in that he had somehow escaped head or internal injuries in the blast.

Duley had been in Afghanistan less than two weeks when he was gravely injured by the buried bomb. It was his first venture into covering military operations. Working for a decade as a fashion and music photographer, Duley's family said he had switched his interest to humanitarian causes and had gone to Afghanistan in January to "cover the plight of bomb victims." They said when an opportunity presented itself to cover front-line action with soldiers from the U.S. Army, the photographer could not resist.

The UK Press Association this morning reports that Duley is in the hospital's critical care facility but so far he remains in stable condition. His brother said the photographer "is surprising everyone with his resilience and humor." The hospital is a brand new acute care facility that just opened last year.

David Bowering, a Canadian photojournalist embedded with troops in Afghanistan, was covering military medevacs for a story and by coincidence was on the helicopter that flew Duley from the blast site to the military hospital.

Bowering said Duley was in terrible physical condition when the Black Hawk medevac helicopter arrived at the compound where troops had been conducting an operation to clear the ground, but that Duley "put up a good battle. He was coherent most of the way. He answered questions," Bowering told Chivers.

He believes that the fact that Duley is alive at all is likely a testament to the speed and expertise of the military medical team and the skill of the Black Hawk's pilot, CW3 Juan Guzman of the 101st Combat Aviation Brigade. Guzman flew the chopper fast and low and put it down immediately when they saw the landing zone smoke flare, and the medics were already out the door and headed to the spot where soldiers where huddled together under a large tree protecting Duley from the landing's dust cloud.

"It seemed that the mission took three hours, but according to my time codes we were able to load [Duley] and deliver him to the surgical ward in about 14 minutes. I couldn't believe it," Bowering said.

During the flight, Bowering said the willpower Duley exhibited "was amazing." He says Army 101st Airborne medic Sgt. Cole Reese told Duley, "You're going to be okay, just stay with me," and the other medic, "Mo" Williams, told the gravely injured photographer, "You're a fucking hell of a fighter, you know that!"

When the chopper landed at Kandahar Air Field, both medics jumped into the ambulance with Duley and accompanied him to the NATO hospital, Bowering said.

Duley is the third photojournalist to lose limbs to land mines in southern Afghanistan. In August 2009, Emilio Morenatti of the Associated Press lost his lower left leg when a roadside bomb struck the vehicle he was riding in while covering American troops. In October 2010, photojournalist Joao Silva lost both legs when he stepped on a mine while on patrol with American soldiers in southern Afghanistan. Still recovering in the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC, just last week Silva took his first steps on his new prosthetic legs.

See more of Bowering's photographs from Afghanistan on his Web site

 

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