A Scots survivor of the Haiti earthquake has described how he escaped death by a matter of minutes.
Banking consultant Alastair Cameron, 60, spoke of his horror at witnessing the trail of death and destruction left behind by the devastating disaster on the Caribbean island.
The dad-of-two, who had only been on the island for two days, revealed how he left his workplace in Port-au-Prince minutes before the quake struck, bringing his office block down to a pile of rubble in seconds.
Mr Cameron, speaking from his Highland home after a stroke of luck got him on a flight out of Haiti without his passport, said: "Had I stayed any longer in the office I would be dead. All my colleagues who were left in the building would have been killed.
"I was actually delayed from leaving the office for an impromptu meeting, which fortunately did not last too long. I was away just before the earthquake struck."
Mr Cameron was travelling back to his apartment with a French colleague high in the hills above Port-au-Prince, about a 40-minute drive away.
He said: "When I later saw the flat it was destroyed, as were all the homes in the street. If I had made it home I would have been killed. It is extraordinary that I survived. There was a 40-minute window where I was in my car which saved my life.
"I first of all thought it was a bomb explosion. You are being shaken about very violently. You are jerked and banged about in different direction. I didn't know what was happening. Because of the movement and buildings falling down there was so much dust that I suddenly couldn't see a thing.
"Eventually the dust settled. We stayed where we were for about an hour because everything had come to a halt.
"We had to find a different route to our flats, but could not make it because we were surrounded by devastation."
Mr Cameron had only arrived on the island two days prior to last Tuesday's quake to work on a project financed by the IFC, the private sector arm of the World Bank.
He and a colleague spent the first night after the quake without a bed or any sleep near to where there were some UN soldiers.
He decided he needed to get off the island as he felt the locals’ attitude might quickly turn to anger.
After scrambling over rubble and landslips to his apartment, Mr Cameron found the building had been razed to the ground, with no chance of recovering his passport.
He headed to the airport regardless, where he discovered a scene of complete chaos. Nobody was being let in to the terminal unless they had UN or diplomatic accreditation or were American citizens.
In an extraordinary stroke of luck, Mr Cameron’s Scottish accent was picked up by the British Ambassador of the Dominican Republic who arranged a temporary passport for him and got him on a flight to Miami, from where he was able to return to the UK.
Mr Cameron said: "The coincidence of him being there at the airport at that time will stay with me for some time, as I would have undoubtedly have spent many more days in Haiti without food, water and sleep. I am just delighted to be back home, having spent four days in the same clothes. I have to admit I am very lucky compared to thousands of others in Haiti.
He added: "At the time of the earthquake it was scenes of devastation. It was an unreal situation. At the time you shut off to the horror of it all, but later I felt quite sick.
"I am now going through all of the emotions of the whole experience. You get ambushed by your emotions - the true hopelessness I felt at not being able to get out of the country.
"But I know how lucky I am. The memories of the whole thing will stay with me forever. I am worried about my colleagues who are still there, and those who had been in the office at the time."
View our gallery of images from Haiti.
Members of the public can help the humanitarian efforts by donating to the following organisations:
Sciaf - 0800 0279 005
Disasters Emergency Committee - 0370 60 60 900
Save The Children - 020 7012 6400
