Ambush victims left their 21 armed guards behind

The New Zealand-British expedition attacked by rebels on a remote Ugandan road left itself vulnerable by setting off ahead of its military escort, local authorities say.

Two New Zealanders and a Briton fled on foot from the ambush - in which about 20 bullets were fired - leaving behind two other Britons, the expedition leader, with an injured leg, and their friend Steve Willis, the proprietor of a tourist camp at Paraa in northern Uganda.

Mr Willis, 36, was shot dead at the scene, and the injured expedition leader, millionaire adventurer Neil McGrigor, 44, later found his body in front of the shot-up Land Rover in which they had been travelling.

One New Zealander, Cam McLeay, 43, ran off barefoot through 3m-high grass and was only picked up again five hours later, while the other two men in the vehicle, Garth MacIntyre, 40, a Wellington businessman, and Briton George Heathcote, 40, hid in the grass. A soldier with them was said to have gone back along the road for help.

On Monday the five members of the Ascend the Nile expedition had called Mr Willis at Paraa by satellite phone from Ayago, saying their microlight had crashed and Mr McGrigor had injured his leg. They asked to be picked up from a place in the park known as Wangkwar.

Uganda Wildlife Authority executive director Moses Mapesa told the New Vision newspaper in Kampala that the chief warden of Murchison Falls National Park at Paraa arranged for 22 soldiers and armed rangers to go with Mr Willis to collect the five expedition members.

Because Mr Willis had an appointment, he decided to drive ahead, leaving behind the escort which was loading the expedition equipment.

"The commander of the escort advised strongly against driving ahead and leaving the escort vehicle behind, but Willis argued that he was getting late for his appointment ... and in any case did not need escorts," Mr Mapesa said. "All the commander could do was literally force in one armed ranger to travel in the car and hurry the loading of the property and follow."

At an earlier press briefing at the Gulu military barracks, where they spent the night, Mr MacIntyre said Mr Willis arrived to pick them up with two vehicles, a Land Cruiser and a Land Rover, and some Ugandan soldiers, the New Vision reported on its website.

"As our equipment was being loaded on to the Land Cruiser, we left with Willis driving us in the Land Rover with only one guard," Mr MacIntyre said. The ambush occurred 14 minutes later.

"We should have travelled in two vehicles with all the guards," Mr MacIntyre said.

After intervention by the American Embassy, the four men were found by a military helicopter and two army vehicles, which picked up Mr McLeay five hours later with injuries to his feet.

- NZPA