A junior doctor from Newcastle has shared his terrifying ordeal of coming under fire while working on the frontline in Burma.
Declan Stokle, 29, took time off from his day job at Sunderland Royal Hospital to spend five weeks volunteering at a jungle clinic in east Burma training medics and treating patients.
Declan has spent years carrying out this vital work, but his latest trip in October was the first time he has visited since the outbreak of civil war in Burma in 2021. While volunteering with American charity, Free Burma Rangers, Declan said he was shocked to witness "the targeting of medical facilities and innocent civilians" and is calling on the UK Government to help.
"I have made three trips to these clinics and they have previously been relatively safe as there was not an active war, but this time it was a lot different and it was quite dangerous at times," he said.
"During the last couple of weeks I was there, things started to escalate. One night, at around midnight, I was woken up by the sound of low-flying jets river the camp.
"One of my friends who I was staying with said that we needed to go, so we went down to the bomb shelter next to his house. We sat inside listening to the jets flying around for about two hours and then we heard them drop bombs very close by.
"After a few hours, it settled down so we went back to sleep but a couple of hours later, at about 5am, another plane came. We went back to the bomb shelter but it wasn't a jet it was a reconnaissance plane taking photos of the camp.
"That worried everyone and they thought the next night they were going to hit our camp. So everyone went to the jungle to sleep in hammocks or make-shift shelters.
"I went to the jungle with one of the senior medics and set up a hammock and waited. We didn't know whether a jet was coming or not.
"It was a terrifying experience. The people there are still living that every day. They are just waiting in the jungle because they daren't stay in the camp."
Declan managed to make it home to Gosforth safely and hopes by sharing his story he can raise awareness of the plight of civilians in Burma. He is now calling on the Government and international community to help and wants to see measures including a global arms embargo and international sanctions to ban the sale of aviation fuel to Myanmar.
"The areas being bombed are predominately civilian targets - churches, hospitals, and schools," he said.
"The Burmese military are committing war crimes and crimes against humanity."
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