POWER returned to the homes of Umm Qasr yesterday for the first time since the outbreak of war - thanks to a North-East soldier and his team.

A loud cheer rang through the streets of the tiny, run-down town as electricity flowed through the mains to a small group of houses.

It was the second boost of the day for the 35,000-strong population as clean water also returned to the town.

The first power surge was a test run. Electricity was being restored to the rest of Umm Qasr, the first town to be freed of the Saddam Hussein regime, during the morning.

A team of five specialist Royal Engineers have worked for the past week to restore the power.

The men, from 528 Specialist Team Royal Engineers (Utilities), have brought a power station at the town's deep-water port back on line and run the supply through a sub-station and into homes.

Major John Taylor, 35, from Newcastle, who headed the team, said: "This has been a great achievement by my men and we are proud of what we have done.

"Umm Qasr is the first town to be liberated and it was important to demonstrate what we can do.

"We needed to show the people back home that we are here doing good. This war is not about oil, it's about sorting out these people.

"We're not just here to kill the bad guys but to put the place right, and this is a good way of demonstrating that."

Prior to the war, Umm Qasr was powered by the Iraq national grid but that was unreliable and tended to switch off if demand was too high.

Major Taylor believes the power source was cut by officials in Basra in the days before the war began, leaving the people without power and water for almost two weeks.

His team of Royal Engineers moved in to the power station on the docks as soon as the British and US forces captured the strategic town.

01/04/2003