By Yves Herman

Picture five photographers and one technician traveling together between the cities of Kharkiv and Donetsk in Ukraine, at an average of 38 degrees C (100 degrees Fahrenheit) with air humidity of more than 50%. Eastern Ukraine is definitely not a fresh or cool place to stay during this EURO 2012 soccer championships. Nevertheless, it is our job to be there and it is a pure pleasure to be sitting alongside the pitch and taking photos of Europe’s best soccer teams. On that journey a cooling rain would have been most appreciated.

Alessandro from Italy, Felix from Spain, Michael from Switzerland, Vasily from Belarus, our technician Rod from Washington DC and myself, based in Belgium, hit the road early on June 15 on our way to Donetsk. An eagerly anticipated match between Ukraine and France was to take place that day at the famous Donbass Arena in front of more than 40,000 fans.

“Train crash in Halle” read the sms snap from a local newspaper we received on Monday morning. I called photographer Thierry Roge who was not too far from the scene and managed to arrive there within 15 minutes, while I organized a helicopter flight over the scene of the crash. Thierry had the initiative to jump over a wall beside the tracks and start walking straight to the train, on the track itself. For 10 minutes he was free to take pictures without being stopped by police who were busy rescuing people. Thierry and a Belgian TV crew were the only ones so close to the train at that time.

Emergency crew work on the site where two trains crashed near Halle February 15, 2010. REUTERS/Thierry Roge