THE father of a former Worcester student who watched the Beslan school atrocity unfold has spoken of the worry he felt for his journalist daughter during the siege.

Sarah Rainsford rushed to the town in North Ossetia, Russia, to report on the event that left at least 335 people dead after the school was taken over by Chechen separatist terrorists.

Her father, Derek Rainsford, formerly of Drakes Broughton, spoke of his deep concern for his daughter, a former pupil of both Blessed Edward Oldcorne RC High and Worcester Sixth Form College, who works in the BBC's Moscow bureau.

"I really do fear for her - especially for what she has witnessed. But it isn't my place to stand in the way of a job she loves," he said.

"I sent her a text message saying we were thinking about her and the awful scenes she has had to report on.

"She's been broadcasting morning, noon and night, and I wonder when she's had a chance to eat and sleep."

In a text reply, she told him that it felt as if she had been working non-stop since the siege began.

Mr Rainsford, who now lives in Monmouth, Wales, said he was very proud of his daughter, who seemed to be coping with the whole situation "magnificently".

She was still in Beslan, today, and unavailable to speak to the Evening News.

The 31-year-old learnt Russian at the Sixth Form College, before studying it alongside French at Cambridge.

"She was always a very able student and I knew she'd go on to get a responsible job and do well," said Jeremy Criddle, her college Russian teacher.

"She's doing a good job over there and I'm very glad for her."

Her love of Russia grew out of studying the language, Mr Rainsford explained. She visited the country before and during her Cambridge studies.

After leaving university, she joined the American news agency Bloomberg, before joining the BBC in Moscow.

She has worked in central Asia and was in Iraq immediately after the fall of Saddam Hussein.

"After she started studying Russian, she always saw herself in Russia at some point," Mr Rainsford added.