A Spanish aid worker dies in a Russian attack on her convoy in Ukraine

The director of the NGO Road to Relief, Emma Igual, died this Saturday when the vehicle in which she was traveling was hit by a Russian projectile near Chasiv Yar, in the Donetsk region, in eastern Ukraine. Canadian volunteer Anthony 'Tonko' Ihnat also died in the attack.

The acting Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, José Manuel Albares, has confirmed the death of Igual in statements to the media from New Delhi, where he is for the G20 summit.

Albares has specified that the Government of Spain has received "verbal confirmation" of the death of the aid worker when a projectile fell on a vehicle in which she was traveling and has indicated that they are now waiting for "certified confirmation from the Ukrainian authorities."

The NGO for which the aid worker worked has reported through its Instagram account that four of its members left around 10:00 a.m. from Sloviansk to Bakhmut in a vehicle to assess the needs of civilians caught in the crossfire in the city. from Ivanivske.

"During the journey, past Chasiv Yar, his vehicle was subject to a Russian attack. There was a direct hit and the vehicle overturned and caught fire," the NGO reported. The German medical volunteer Ruben Mawick, the Swedish volunteer Johan Mathias Thyr, Ihnat and Igual herself were traveling in the vehicle.

Mawick and Thyr have been transferred to different hospitals in the area, while the death of Ihnat has been confirmed, whose body has already been recovered, according to Road to Relief.

Road to Relief has explained that this type of movement is part of needs assessment missions, and they are usually the first to visit the front towns to obtain information about the situation, which has allowed numerous evacuations and the delivery of "aid." vital" in the 18 months that they have been operating.

She was also the director and co-founder of Road to Relief, an NGO that since 2022 has been helping in Ukraine by evacuating civilians from the front and delivering humanitarian aid in the areas most affected by the war.

On the other hand, the Ukrainian NGO Let's Dare to Rebuild, with which Ihnat collaborated, has also blamed the Russian forces for the attack. Ihnat, a Canadian of Slovak origin, was 58 years old and lived in the province of Ontario, where he worked as a maintenance person and was a fan of the Toronto Maple Leafs hockey club.

In 2022 he sold his truck and traveled to Ukraine to serve as a volunteer. He worked in the villages of Smilivij in reconstruction work, moved luggage across the Polish border, participated in delivering humanitarian aid, evacuating people, and repairing schools.

"A beautiful, sensitive man, always cheerful, brilliant, caring and hard-working," highlighted Atrevámonos a Reconstructir. "We express our deepest condolences to family and friends. We will remember you, 'Tonka'. May he rest in peace," he added.