Amputee and Irish rescuer swap memories
American aid worker Ken Rutherford (right), who lost his leg after a landmine explosion in Somalia in 1993, meets Irish pilot Joe Moran, who airlifted him to safety, in Dublin yesterday for the first time since the incident
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An Irish rescue pilot yesterday described how he flew his plane at dangerously low levels over war-torn areas of eastern Africa in a desperate attempt to save the life of a humanitarian worker who had just had his leg blown off by a landmine.
Joe Moran carried out more than 100 evacuations by plane during his time as a pilot with African Medical Research.
But the evacuation of Ken Rutherford in December 1993 sticks in his memory because the American aid worker was perilously close to not making it.
"It was obvious that Ken was on the edge, certainly from halfway," Mr Moran, from Galbally in Limerick, said.
"Even though we used the blood that we'd picked up it still wasn't enough to keep him going so the nurse and the doctor transfused their own blood into him."
Mr Rutherford was in much better shape yesterday. In Dublin for the Conference on Cluster Munitions, the double amputee was photographed in the newspaper earlier this week. Mr Moran's wife saw the photo and the pair made contact.
They had not met since their time in the plane together over Somalia and Kenya. And, unsurprisingly, Mr Rutherford doesn't remember a whole lot about the first time.
"I was in a jeep driving out to see a project and we had slowed down because a donkey cart was approaching," he said. "We hit the mine. I was with eight Somalis and my right leg came off. If we were going faster we would have been killed."
Blood
Mr Rutherford radioed for help; Mr Moran, who was delivering supplies, was that help. "I must say Ken looked in a very sorry state, and was obviously losing a lot of blood," he said.
An American nurse was with Mr Rutherford but, when the plane stopped to reload, they also picked up a doctor, blood and oxygen. Racing towards Nairobi, Mr Moran was told to fly as low as possible to help control Mr Rutherford's blood pressure.
"With little time to spare we got him to Nairobi and a waiting medical team," Mr Moran recalled.
- Jason O'Brien
