A BOLTON aid worker is praying for his best friend Alan Henning – who has been captured by militant terrorists in Syria.

Former taxi driver and married father-of-two Alan Henning travelled from Bolton to Syria in December last year with Kasim Jameel.

The 47-year-old’s life is in the hands of Islamic State (IS) jihadists who made threats to kill him at the end of a video released on Saturday showing the barbaric killing of British hostage David Haines.

Bolton aid worker and fellow volunteer Mr Jameel told The Bolton News: “Alan is an amazing guy. He is the best of the best. He is my best friend and I am praying for him.

“He loved the cause so much that when he went to Turkey on holiday with his family, he had a big tattoo across his arm saying ‘aid for Syria’ – he was that dedicated.

“The cause had literally changed his life around – it meant that much to him.”

Mr Henning and Mr Jameel travelled from Bolton to Syria in December last year with other volunteers from Bolton and the UK Arab Society.

The pair joined a convoy of 20 vehicles making the 4,000-mile journey to Syria on December 20 last year.

His convoy set off from Great Lever to join others leaving the North West. It was transporting life-saving medical equipment to a hospital in Idlib, in north-western Syria.

Items sent included defibrillators, stethoscopes and oxygen.

It is understood Mr Henning — who is married with two children — was captured just 30 minutes after arriving in Syria.

Mr Henning had previously travelled to Syria in March 2013.

Volunteers from Bolton set off in two ex-NHS vehicles on March 17 last year to make the five-day journey to the Ad Dana hospital in Syria.

More than £20,000 had been raised by Boltonians for the purchase of the two ambulances.

The convoy was organised volunteers from Bolton alongside the UK Arab Society.

Volunteers drove to Dover to catch the ferry to Dunkirk, then drove to Bruge in Belgium, then through Luxembourg, France, Switzerland and Italy.

The fleet then took another 16-hour ferry journey to Greece before driving through Turkey and on into Syria.

The fleet of ambulances was bought from Blue Lights in Atherton, a company that sells and hires ex-NHS vehicles.