A British dad has become the first person to enjoy a holiday in the ruins of the former IS stronghold of Mosul.
Andy Drury, 53, shelled out over £4000 organising a three-day mini break to the devastated Iraqi city.
The married dad-of-four risked kidnapping and militia attacks during his sightseeing tour.
He viewed historic buildings which have been completely devastated by the war and also spoke to survivors.
Andy said: “I must be the first person to be have been a tourist in the ruins of Islamic State.
“Driving in from Iraq and Kurdistan, all the buildings were beautiful, and then it changes, and I’ve never seen nothing like it, it was like an apocalyptic film.
“The buildings have got big holes in them from where they’ve taken airstrikes, there a bits of rubble and then it is just completely flattened.”
The building firm owner, from Guildford, Surrey, has spent the last 20 years touring areas on the planet most tourists refuse to visit.
His three-day tour involved a visit to the former front line near Kirkuk on day one, former IS capital Mosul on day two, and a last day visit to a refugee camp to interview former IS wives.
Andy plans his trips in meticulous detail and has already holidayed in no-go-areas like Somalia, North Korea and Afghanistan.
His journeys have even featured in the Netflix series Dark Tourist, which saw him visit a former Soviet nuclear testing zone in Kazakhstan.
But the businessman’s trip to Mosul was one of his most emotional yet.
He explained: “We drove through the obliterated streets, you could see plates, left rotting food, and then there was a clearing, an opening.
“...there was a house in front of me that just had this beautiful window and door. So, I walked up to it because something drew me in.
“On the left-hand side of the building was a children’s nursery and I was in tears, I even well up now, there was a doll embedded in the wall, toys.”
Describing another nearby square he added: “You could smell the death, it’s strange, you knew that 1,000s of people had died where I was. The fighting was intense.
“We drove on into this another square which opened up and there were items everywhere, unused shells and RPGs everywhere, there was evidence of just sheer mayhem, there’s signs for unexploded bombs.”
