MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

News Direct from FIBS

Commander British Forces Falklands "wildly inaccurate claim"

The Commander British Forces Falklands commented on the publicity about the South Jason Islands Fire at LEGCO this morning. He said "press coverage of the incident has been, I'm afraid widely inaccurate and it's a source of some regret to me both as CBFII and as a member of Falkland Islands Conservation myself, that some of their reporting has been a little inaccurate and premature". Lisa Riddell from the Penguin News responded to this statement by saying, "I suspect he was attacking some of the international stories and not what was reported by the island's media. At the same time, I would like to make it clear that the Penguin News article on the fire last week was entirely factual. It included no speculation by myself and all information regarding the movements of the RAF EOD on the day of the fire was checked with Commander Colin Martin. We pride ourselves on our objective reporting and the Jason Island Story was no exception to this strict policy". Councillors were also concerned about the reactions saying "it was unfortunate that hysteria took over in some quarters". Becky Ingham from Falklands Conservation said, "As the major environmental group working for the protection of Falklands wildlife, it was clearly our place to react to the fire in the way we did. The fact that this was picked up swiftly by international press and conservation bodies is a measure of the global importance of that wildlife. Whilst it would now seem that damage to the island has been less than initially feared, this fire was a real and significant threat, one that would have been reported the same however it started. Our job is now to work with the military to lessen the chances of events such as this in the future and to assist them wherever possible to establish and maintain good environmental education and practices". His Excellency, the governor Mr Donald Lamont welcomed the engagement of Mr Ian Strange to investigate the impact of the fire and the invitation by the military for Falklands Conservation to visit South Jason Islands; he said he hoped that "out a most regrettable incident some good will come" refering to better