Fleeing Fiji

12:00 PM

Herald reporters and photographers back last night from strife-torn Fiji are concerned about the country they left behind in chaos.

Reporter Tony Wall said that although he was glad to be safe, he was sorry to leave people behind.

"I'm sorry to be leaving, to tell the truth. There's a lot of good people that are hurting right now.

"What concerned me the most was the flashpoints of tension. Everything would be calm and relaxed and then all of a sudden everything would come unhinged."

Herald photographer Kenny Rodger encountered George Speight's henchmen first-hand when he led a group demanding the release of colleagues being held against their will. They included Herald reporter Naomi Larkin.

"We were there to record events, but in the last couple of days we've become the news, and that's not what we were there for."

Like Wall, Rodger felt for the local people as he left.

"A lot of us made friends over there and they're the ones who will suffer from all this. It's a bit close to the bone when you think of it like that."

Photographer Peter Meecham said Speight's supporters eventually turned against the media.

"All of a sudden we heard a mob was descending on the hotel. I could hear them chanting. I thought 'this is it, we're going to have to abandon our gear and run'.

"Obviously a couple of reports didn't go as they would have liked and they began to turn on us," he said. "They were trying to intimidate the media but at the end of the day you're never going to stop us doing what we do."

The governments of New Zealand and several other countries have advised their nationals to avoid Fiji.

A yacht race between New Zealand and Fiji with a tradition stretching back almost 50 years was abandoned by its organisers this morning.

The 12 yachts taking part are currently more than 300 nautical miles north of Auckland.

The Royal Akarana Yacht Club, which organised the race, says it was concerned for the safety of support crew and families of the yachties who would have to fly to Nadi and travel internally in Fiji to reach Savu Savu.

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