Reuters Safety Officer with Longford connections dies following missile strike on hotel in Ukraine

A Welsh safety adviser, whose mother is from county Longford, has died while working for news agency Reuters after a missile strike on a hotel.

Ryan Evans, 38, from Wrexham, was part of the reporting crew staying at the Hotel Sapphire, in Kramatorsk, eastern Ukraine, which was hit by a strike on Saturday, August 24.

Ryan's mum is Geraldine O'Donohue, a native of Lanesboro, and he is the youngest of Geraldine and Dave Evans' family.

The O'Donohoe family are very well known and respected in Lanesboro and Longford, and local shop owner Joe O'Brien said there was a huge sense of shock and sadness in the community of Lanesboro following the tragedy.

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"As a youngster, and in much happier times, Ryan would have spent time here regularly holidaying in Lanesboro and everyone is stunned by the news of his tragic passing. I express sympathy with Ryan's family, relatives and friends at this extremely difficult time," said Mr O'Brien. 

Ryan's uncles and aunts reside locally, PJ (Longford town), Niall (Lanesboro), Dermot (Ballyleague), Mary O'Halloran (Lanesboro) and Phil Carroll (Lanesboro). 

Ryan's wife Anne (Kerrie), in a heartbreaking Facebook post, described him as ' a gentle giant'. "I can’t even begin to explain how much that man meant to me, how much I adored him with every part of me. He was my best friend and my soulmate, my everything."

Ryan and Kerrie have four children Tristan, Felicity, Harrison and 18 months old Logan. 

She wrote: "No measurement in the world will understand how much he will be missed and how much he’s loved by us all. As I’m sure you can imagine, our family is trying to process what has happened, and we are so unsure of what the future holds now with a massive Ryan shape missing."

A gofundme page entitled Help support Kerrie and Logan after Ryan's tragic loss was set up by friend of the family Laura Lilley and at the time of writing this has raised £20,630. 

In a statement, Reuters said it was “devastated” to learn of the death of Ryan Evans, 38, and that two of its journalists were also injured.

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The former British soldier had been working with Reuters since 2022.

The statement added: “We are urgently seeking more information about the attack, including by working with the authorities in Kramatorsk, and we are supporting our colleagues and their families.

“We send our deepest condolences and thoughts to Ryan’s family and loved ones.

“Ryan has helped so many of our journalists cover events around the world; we will miss him terribly.”

Reuters also said “two of our journalists are in hospital, one is being treated for serious injuries”.

It added that three other colleagues have been accounted for and are safe.

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