'I felt my arms and legs - they were all there': Stuart Ramsay on surviving IS bomb

'I felt my arms and legs - they were all there': Stuart Ramsay on surviving IS bomb

Stuart Ramsay, Chief Correspondent

The battle taking place in Mosul is one of the most challenging experiences of anyone's life.

Soldiers, militants, the local population, aid workers and journalists alike find it hard.

To get to the front line we had to go by foot, ducking and dodging all the way. In Mosul, a sniper-filled battle space, there is simply no choice.

Image: The moment before the blast, with the Sky crew in a vehicle in the bottom right

We arrived to find Iraqi soldiers attaching small bombs to a drone.


Despite the assets available to them, from jets and helicopter gunships to mortars, rockets and infantry, they still believe that if they identify an Islamic State cell hidden in the myriad of alleyways and buildings that make up the ancient old quarter of west Mosul, then an improvised drone is a good choice.

Image: A huge fireball erupted as the device detonated

It's questionable.

The soldiers preparing for the next offensive urge us to get out of the way. The bombs have a tendency to drop off and explode on departure.

We decided to film the drone's movements in the armoured truck that is the drone keeper's HQ. They watch its advance on HD screens and decide when to drop the deadly payload.

Image: Islamic State drone footage showed the moment of the blast

As we filmed I heard a crashing noise and stepped out to see what was going on.

Dozens of soldiers who had filled the streets were running in every direction. People screamed at me to take cover and run away.

Sky News team has a narrow escape in Mosul

I didn't know what was happening but as my cameraman, Nathan Hale, stopped filming inside and came towards me I pushed him back into the truck and told him to wait.

A soldier jumped into the van beside me and there was silence; then a crash. Then nothing.

Nathan turned towards the window. Then our world exploded.

An orange flash, an enormous boom and our heavy truck lifted off the ground. The three-inch plate glass front windshield exploded and acrid smoke filled the truck.

Image: Stuart described counting his limbs after the blast lifted the vehicle he was in off the ground

"You okay mate?" Nathan shouted.

"Yeah, f***," I replied. I felt my arms and legs. They were all there. I wasn't hurt at all. None of us could believe it.

Image: The blast destroyed several vehicles in the west of Mosul

Then the shooting, screaming and chaos started.

Our two colleagues and friends, security adviser Mike Mawhinney and Haider Kata, were outside shouting for us. We emerged into a world of flames and panic.

Image: Iraqi troops have been rigging drones with bombs to target militants ensconced in alleyways

We ran towards them and we all checked we were okay. Haider was cut and had been hit by debris which Mike sorted while helping other walking wounded trying to get away from the blast site.

The air was filled with the noise of incoming bullets flying over us and we took cover as more and more dazed soldiers milled around us and more and more incoming rounds made our position increasingly untenable.

Image: IS militants are carrying out sniper attacks, suicide bombings and car blasts in the city

The fighting intensified and twice we moved locations to try to put distance between us and the fight raging outside - but it kept getting nearer.

We decided we needed to find something safer so frantically we clambered over mounds of broken concrete to the lower floor of a wrecked government building and hid inside.

Image: The Sky crew were forced to move twice after coming under fire from Islamic State militants

The fighting got worse and the noise did as well.

Image: Where the blast took place in Mosul

Helicopter gunships stationed themselves above us as they fired rockets and machine guns at IS positions now threatening the road we had been on only minutes before. Minutes, which by now felt like years.

Image: The blast left people dazed in the area

Again we decided we needed to move and raced across open ground where snipers could see us looking for a way back to the relative safety of where we had come from.

We tried to cross a bridge but soldiers refused to let us pass. They did not know who we were. We tried to get back to the original soldiers we had filmed with but they were panicked and angry. It was difficult.

Image: Chief Correspondent Stuart Ramsay runs for cover as sniper fire rains down in Mosul

On the street where the suicide bomber had hit, two or three Humvees were barely recognisable, the tank was destroyed. The whole place was on fire.

I looked at our truck. It was three away from the tank, but a digger had parked itself slightly in front. It saved out lives.

Image: Iraqi attack helicopters patrolled the skies above Mosul

It deflected the blast just enough to allow our weaker armour a chance.

I marvelled at this before my colleagues gestured. It was time to run again. And did I run.

Image: Because of the danger of the situation, the Sky crew were forced to hide in ruined buildings

:: Watch the full video here