A BRADFORD aid volunteer who has just returned from his fifth mercy mission to help Syrian refugees has spoken of the harrowing stories he heard and devastating injuries he witnessed.

Nazim Ali, 36, from Manningham, who with help from the Bradford public and beyond, raised £16,479 this time to buy life-saving supplies to hand out to refugees on the Turkish/Syrian border for Ramadan, said the situation was dire and heartbreaking.

He said his aid work was part of a religious obligation as a British Muslim. Mr Ali, who works as a careers advisor in his day job, took suitcases full of toys for the children. He said he saw at first-hand the horrific injuries youngsters had suffered, including loss of limbs.

“It was distressing to see at first-hand the horrific injuries sustained, especially to children. This was my fifth visit. However, your heart literally sinks when you see the loss of limbs particularly to children and young people and hearing their harrowing stories on how they suffered such devastating injuries,” he said.

He travelled as part of an aid-team from Dewsbury-based international humanitarian organisation SKT Welfare, which spent six days handing out about 2,400 food parcels. Mr Ali, who has run marathons and climbed mountains to personally raise more than £100,000 over the past decade for charity, said he and fellow team members were spending 12 to 14 hours a day delivering the food parcels to those who needed it the most, and were lucky to get three to four hours sleep a night.

The team visited the border town of Reyhanli, about 25 miles from Aleppo in Syria, and went to tent villages across the region, also calling in at rehabilitation centres.

“Many Syrian refugees have just one room with at least a dozen people in there. Other refugees are living in almost underground cave-like premises which you wouldn’t deem fit enough for animals let alone humans!” He said the refugees’ gratitude and smiles were poignant and touching, he added: “So many have lost parents, family members and then you have many who have suffered catastrophic injuries due to the Syrian conflict.”

Mr Ali will run the Hull 10k on June 18 while fasting in aid of the Spring Hopes Orphanage in Rehanli. To sponsor him go to justgiving.com/nazim100