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Photographer who cheated death vows to return to war zone

A press photographer who lost both his legs and an arm in a landmine explosion in Afghanistan has spoken of his determination to go back to work in an interview with his local paper.

Giles Duley, a freelance photographer working for the Camera Press Agency, pledged to return to work in war-torn Afghanistan following the incident in February which saw him step on a landmine.

He is currently undergoing intensive physiotherapy treatment.

Mr Duley told the Hastings Observer: “Most people are knocked unconscious by the force of the bomb but I was fully conscious the whole time. I was thrown to the ground and I remember a sudden calm feeling.

“I knew straight away that my legs had gone and at that point I thought I was going to die. I was bleeding everywhere.”

Reporter Richard Gladstone bagged the interview with Mr Duley after contacting a pub that he used to work at in Hastings. After speaking to a former colleague he was put in touch with Mr Duley’s sister who put him in touch with the photographer.

Mr Duley was in the Kandahar region of Afghanistan with US troops on 7 February  working as a freelancer for the Camera Press agency when the accident happened. He now has two prosthetic legs and a prosthetic left arm.

He lost one leg below the knee, the other leg above the knee and his left arm has been severed above the elbow.

Before the incident Mr Duley had planned to move back to Hastings from London following his stint in Afghanistan and launch a magazine charting the war.  He has been taking pictures in conflict zones for seven years and plans to return to war-torn Afghanistan to carry on working.

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  • August 31, 2011 at 1:48 pm
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    Quite extraordinary bravery and determination……………

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