A British man has made a 1,200-mile journey to save his stranded family from the conflict in Georgia.
Allan Howarth spent two days driving through Azerbaijan and Georgia to rescue his Georgian wife and two children who were holidaying in a mountainous region of the country with relatives.
Mr Howarth, 38, who works in Baku as regional manager of a UK-based marine contractors' firm, was in his home city of Aberdeen at the weekend when he heard of the escalating conflict between Georgia and Russia.
His wife Tamara and children Jake, seven, and Emma, 18 months, were holidaying with Mrs Howarth's parents near the Georgian village of Khashuri.
Concerned for his family's welfare, Mr Howarth flew from Aberdeen to Baku on Sunday and set off in his Toyota Landcruiser.
He drove to the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, where he picked up his brother-in-law and collected his children's passports, before avoiding war zones by embarking on a long and dangerous detour through mountainous terrain to reach his family.
The Daily Record newspaper reported he got to his family an hour before Russian troops overran the village close to where they were staying.
Mr Howarth told the Record: "It does sound a bit like a Hollywood action movie. If I'd been an hour later I wouldn't have got them. It was that close."
Mr Howarth's sister, Carol, who lives in Aberdeen, said: "I am very proud of him. Obviously he was very worried about his wife and his two children."
