26 February 2012 Last updated at 12:52 ET

Joss Stone praises Syria photographer Paul Conroy

Joss Stone: ''These stories have to be told''

Singer Joss Stone has said she is convinced her "best mate", photographer Paul Conroy injured in a bomb blast in Syria, will survive his ordeal.

Mr Conroy, from Totnes in Devon, was hurt in the attack on Wednesday that killed the Sunday Times's Marie Colvin.

The Foreign Office said it would be too dangerous to send someone to get Mr Conroy out of Homs.

Stone, who met Mr Conroy when she was making a documentary aged 15, said: "He will be all right. Paul is a survivor."

The 25-year-old singer, who lives in Devon, said she "bonded" with Mr Conroy when they were making a documentary in Africa.

"Paul's silly, as brave as he is. I wish he didn't do it," she said.

"He's doing it for a bigger better braver reason than what people realise. These stories have to be told.

"I'm speaking from a selfish point of view because I want a best mate to talk to."

Stone added: "If he does not go out there the story is not told, then the massacre would be worse. They are saving lives just by being there.

Father-of-three Paul Conroy was hurt in the attack that killed the Sunday Times's Marie Colvin

"He is brave. He is doing the right thing."

Ms Colvin, 56, had been on the ground floor of a makeshift press centre in Homs on Wednesday morning when missiles hit the upper floors.

A group of foreign journalists, which included Mr Conroy, was covered in dust but unhurt and had to get their shoes as they prepared to flee.

Ms Colvin ran to the hall where she had left hers, but a rocket landed at the front of the building, a few yards away, as she did so.

The blast killed her and French photojournalist Remi Ochlik.

Father-of-three Mr Conroy, a freelance photographer working for the Sunday Times, was in a nearby room and was hit by shrapnel in the leg and stomach.

French journalist Edith Bouvier suffered multiple leg fractures.