WITNESS: Waking up paralyzed in Sri Lanka's war zone

By Peter Apps

AYLESBURY (Reuters) - When I came round, I thought I was lying on a corpse. Then I realized it was wearing my clothes and I couldn't feel anything below my neck.

After months of covering Sri Lanka's growing civil war, it seemed viciously ironic to be involved in a simple road smash a short way from the front line between government forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

As violence spiraled from April, work had become busier, bloodier and more dangerous. I lost count of the number of dead and wounded I'd seen and the sound of distant artillery became a familiar backdrop to trips into the field.

It was hard but intensely rewarding. Frequently, we were in places few other outsiders, and no foreign journalists, had visited.

Once or twice, the mere fact a story had been written seemed to reduce the killing. More often, it didn't, but at least it made it harder to deny that it was happening.

This was supposed to be a relatively simple trip; a few days in the eastern town of Batticaloa covering child soldier recruitment by the rebels and another group, widely believed to be government backed.

I couldn't feel anything below my head but I could see I was slumped forward over the dashboard of our rented minibus. I tried to yell to my photographer, Buddhika Weerasinghe, but my breathing was weak and the sound barely came.

"Buddhika, my neck is broken," I said. Continued...