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A Georgian man cries as he holds the body of his relative after a bombardment in Gori, Georgia, August 9, 2008. Gleb Garanich: I was about to head off on a fishing holiday when my boss called proposing that I head off to cover the unfolding conflict between Georgia and Russia. In a matter of hours, I was on my way to the airport and around midnight I landed in Tbilisi. Early the next day, I went off to the Georgian town of Gori together with colleagues from Reuters TV. We took some pictures then decided to head out of town towards Tskhinvali, capital of the separatist region of South Ossetia. But within ten minutes our Tbilisi photographer Dato – using a walkie-talkie I had brought to make up for poor telephone communications – was shouting down the line that a bombardment was under way on the outskirts of Gori. Five minutes later, a series of bombs began exploding in another district on the road heading back to Tbilisi. I informed Dato of events on the walkie-talkie. Within minutes, Dato arrived at the spot and reported considerable destruction and victims and within five minutes we, too, were at the site. In the street, Georgian soldiers were taking the wounded out of apartment buildings or carrying away bodies covered in blankets. I then saw a man in a neighbouring courtyard weeping over the body of his brother. Georgian servicemen tried to help him and cover the corpse but he did not let them, hurled his mobile telephone at them and allowed no one to approach the body. He tore off his t-shirt and tried to cover his brother's body with it before sitting on the ground and embracing his brother's corpse. Ten minutes later, he was calmed down by neighbours and soldiers took away the body. (Photo by Gleb Garanich/Reuters)
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