Ben Fogle shocked to hear Ukraine war stories from volunteer medic in Northern Ireland

What did you miss?

Ben Fogle was shocked to hear that a man living a remote island life has also been travelling to Ukraine to volunteer as a medic on the frontline.

In the latest episode of New Lives in the Wild Revisits, Fogle revisited Rathlin Islander Rauri Morgan who has travelled to the war torn country to drive an ambulance in the war zone. Morgan, 45, told of his heartbreak at losing one of his close friends who had also been volunteering with the medical corp, after he was killed in a missile attack.

Fogle admitted Morgan's volunteer work in Ukraine was "the last thing I was expecting to hear."

What, how, and why?

Fogle has been making Channel 5 show New Lives in the Wild, about people who have chosen to leave the rat race and live off grid, for 10 years. And in the new series, New Lives in the Wild Revisits, is returning to see how they are getting on.

On Tuesday 12 November, viewers saw the 50-year-old TV presenter return to the remote island of Rathlin in Northern Island, which is so small it does not have a police station of doctor's surgery. Morgan quit his job as a human resources executive in Dublin and moved to Rathlin to live in his late grandmother's 500-year-old cottage. On Fogle's first visit eight years previously, Morgan had told him how he had been travelling to the Mediterranean to help save refugees who were making dangerous sea crossings in a desperate bid to seek asylum.

This time Fogle was even more surprised to learn Morgan had been volunteering in Ukraine. The islander told him: "Randomly, I've been working out in Ukraine. I read an article in the newspaper about this guy from Derry who was out delivering aid and working with an American charity. I done a bit of research on them, got in contact. And two weeks later, I was on a flight to Warsaw to then get on a 28 hour train journey to cave and then jump in an ambulance and drive another 11 hours to the eastern front on the front line. I was working as a trauma medic."

Fogle told him: "You never cease to amaze me, Rauri. You've got the peace and tranquilly of Rathlin. What is it that drew you to that?" Morgan replied: "The fact that I'm able to do it is kind of a gift of itself. To be fair, I'm not the best medic in the world, but I don't panic and I can get the job done while I'm there, and that's that's 90 per cent of what we do."

But he admitted he was scared, adding: "Anybody that says that they're not scared or not upset by it is a liar. On some occasions, the Russians were like maybe a kilometre away from us up on a hill and we were driving an exposed piece of land. We know that even though we're in an ambulance, we're a target."

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What else happened on New Lives in the Wild Revisits?

Since Fogle had last visited him Morgan revealed both his parents had died and he had been airlifted to hospital after collapsing from an undiagnosed blood condition. He said: "I don't remember an awful lot about it, to be quite honest, because I was wiped. I was I was quite ill at the time, but I made a really good recovery."

He went on: "Since you were last year, my parents have both passed away. My mum was ill for a few years, she was very much ready to go and went on on her own terms. My dad died after a very short illness, just recently. But again, no pain, no suffering, just the way you would want to go and how. I'm quite logical and very black and white about these things."

But Morgan became overwhelmed with emotion as he revealed his heartbreak at losing a close friend, Oscar, after he was killed in Ukraine by a missile attack.

He said: "I made quite a few good friends. Unfortunately, over the past year, we've also lost a couple. One of my best friends in Ukraine. And it's really weird because you make connections really good connections with people so quick because of the situation that you're in. Oscar, an amazing Danish fella. Medic.

"He was on a training ground, doing medical training and they took a direct missile, He was killed instantly. He wasn't even supposed to be there that day. Whenever the calls started to come through and we were starting to process, it was like 'It's definitely an Oscar because he's not there.'

"Unfortunately, it turned out it was. And you know, I've lost my parents, I've lost, you know, friends and relatives, and that's all kind of okay, because it's gradual. But somebody who had such a strong connection with them because it was so instant because it wasn't supposed to be there.

"That kind of broke me a wee bit, to be honest. And I'm not really the breakable type of person, but that, and every day. I still think about him quite a lot. I'm in contact with his mother. He was 32-years-old, an amazing medic, an amazing person. Just wiped out in an instant."

Ben Fogle's New Lives in the Wild Revisits airs on Channel 5 on Tuesday.