Dumfries charity's concern for Ukrainian staff 'cowering in a bomb-shelter with their children'

Fears are growing for the safety of hundreds of aid workers working for a Dumfries based charity in Ukraine. 

As war continues to rage in the country there are particular concerns for members of the Halo Trust mine clearing operation in the city of Mariupol, that has endured relentless shelling for a week. 

Many have had to retreat underground, seeking refuge in bunkers and metro stations which have now become bomb-shelters.

Louise Vaughan is from the charity and says the the last couple of days have been some of the hardest in her career at Halo:

"I'm afraid we have over 400 Ukrainian staff. Particularly distressing is that 25 of them are in Mariupol which as you know is under very very heavy bombardment."

Louise says their safety is the charity's main priority. They have managed to keep in contact so far, but communicating is becoming difficult as conflict continues.

"We were able to maintain some lines of communication with those members of staff until mid-week, and dreadfully, we have not been able to make any kind of communication at all for the last 24-36 hours.

"These are our colleagues, these are highly skilled, highly educated, funny, lovely people who we work with and to think of them cowering in bomb shelters with their children is really devastating."