2010-02-08 20:41:59 -

Actor ANDREW MCCARTHY was left fearing for his life during a recent trip = to Ethiopia after he was held at gunpoint in an underground church.
The Mannequin star turned reporter for travel magazine Afar and flew to= the African country

for his assignment earlier this year (10).
But the vacation turned into a nightmare when he found himself being th= reatened by an armed guard after accidentally leaving his entrance ticket= to historic church Lalibela at his hotel.
The 47 year old explains, "His gun (was) pointed at my back. I thought = his reaction to my offence was extreme; I tried to say as much. He grunte= d something in Amharic and prodded me with the tip of his rifle." Some locals soon came to McCarthy's rescue and he was released, but the= terrifying experience had the actor panicked.
He says, "I tried to breathe." But McCarthy has no regrets about taking on the assignment for Afar, wh= ose editors pick reporters' destinations by spinning a globe, and admits = the incident is just part of the risk.
He adds, "(It) was just the kind of thing that happens when you show up= alone in a distant country without a plan."