The Express & Echo in Exeter gave up its front page to run a full-page picture of a local yacht captain attempting to escape war-torn Lebanon.

Former Exeter man Simon Beer, whose parents still live locally, has been in constant touch with the paper.

Editor Marc Astley decided to let him tell his story in his own words, and ran stark a first-person piece to bring the full picture to readers.

And in an update today the paper is set to carry a follow-up explaining how the skipper was stopped by Israeli gunboats close to the end of his 12-hour voyage in an attempted escape to Cyprus.

Marc said: “He’s from Exeter originally and we got an overnight e-mail about what he was going through.

“We spoke to him by phone after seeing the potential, had a chat about what we could do and arranged for him to send words and pictures.

“We didn’t ‘journalese’ what he sent at all. We ran the whole article in his own words. He filed a lot of very useful copy – it’s a great read and conveys the drama.”

He recorded the trauma of being caught in the middle of a war zone on board a $6m luxury yacht – and his plans to make an escape to safer waters.

The 40-year-old had been trapped for almost a week in Beirut after Israel launched an air offensive on targets in Lebanon following the capture of two of its soldiers by Lebanese guerrillas.

His last conventional escape route closed the day before he was due to leave for Dubai, when Israel’s air force bombed the city’s only international airport.

His compelling first article piece gave a flavour of life in the war-zone.

He wrote: “My name is Simon Beer. I am a Devon captain, trapped on my yacht in Beirut.

“It all happened so quickly. We were aware of the fighting in the south, but nobody took much notice of it. I was due to fly out of Beirut on Friday, July 14, to go back to Dubai for a few days.

“The day before, I heard on the news that overnight the Israelis had bombed the runway of Beirut international airport.

“Early the next morning, at around 5am, I was awoken by a large explosion. I could feel the shockwave through the yacht. They were attacking the airport again, taking out the terminal building and fuel supply tanks. We watched as the smoke rose above the buildings behind us.

“We are still waiting for someone to get us through this blockade. We are civilians and are being kept in a war zone against our will. Surely this is a serious enough situation for someone to offer help.”