AN ADVENTURER from Lymington caught up in a terrifying ambush in Uganda which left one man dead has to decide whether to continue with his quest to find the source of the River Nile.

British man Keith Steve Willis was killed instantly when two bandits thought to be from the notorious Lord's Resistance Army raked a Land Rover with machine gun fire.

Expedition leader Neil McGrigor from Lymington, who was already suffering from a leg injury, was caught.

New Zealander Garth McIntyre escaped death by a whisker, suffering a grazed head from a bullet.

Asked if he was going to continue the 4,000-mile odyssey up the Nile in Zap Cat craft, Mr McGrigor said: "It's too soon to make a decision.

"The team's main concern is with Steve Willis's family and we are going to discuss the future of the expedition when we are back in Kampala."

He was expecting to regroup there on Wednesday evening.

The incident happened when the team of four - Mr McGrigor and George Heathcote from Lymington and New Zealanders Cam LcLeay and Mr McIntyre - abandoned their ascent of the rapids in Murchison Falls National Park because of the ferocity of the current.

They were being driven in the Land Rover by Mr Willis, who was thought to run the nearby Red Chilli safari camp.

Mr McGrigor said before they got into the Land Rover they had been speaking to a dozen or so Ugandan Army personnel who provided a security guard.

But after they got under way, the bandits stepped out and started firing at the vehicle which careered off the road.

Those who could, ran. Because of his leg injury, Mr McGrigor was caught and taken to the back of the Land Rover while they ransacked it and torched it before leaving.

He suffered burns to his legs putting out the flames.

But the most frightening moment had come when a gun had been pointed at Mr McGrigor's head and he was told to kneel down.

"I knew that one of us in the back had been shot because there was blood everywhere," said Mr McGrigor. "It was all very hairy.

"I found Steve the driver and he had taken a bullet in the top of his head," he said.

He raised the alarm and three of them were rescued by helicopter.

Cam McLeay spent five hours in the bush before being rescued by the Ugandan soldiers.

Mr McGrigor later heard the rebels had recently been attacking tourists.

"The army people didn't communicate that. If they had we might have made some different decisions."

Speaking from her home, Mr McGrigor's wife Christine said: "It's a relief that the four of them are fine but an absolute tragedy that the driver was killed.

"They are all in a state of shock. I can't believe they are still alive. Having a gun pointed at your head and being told to kneel down, Neil thought that was it."

First published: November 10