Caught on video: Reporter shot in eye covering Georgia conflict as team comes under rebel fire
A reporter was shot in the eye while covering the conflict between Russia and Georgia after his team of Turkish journalists came under fire, shocking film footage showed today.
Levent Ozturk survived the five-minute attack on their vehicle by South Ossetian rebels in which cameraman Guray Ervin was wounded in the shoulder.
Astonishingly Mr Ozturk, who was driving three fellow journalists through the South Ossetian capital, Tshinvali simply said: ‘Friends, I got hit on the head - I am OK.’
A camera rolling in the back of their car also captured the team reciting final prayers as they tried desperately to reverse out of the firing line.
As the shooting comes to an end, they wave through the battered sunroof of their truck and shout: ‘Press! Press!’
After the incident on Sunday, Mr Ervin said: ‘Some ten to 15 soldiers sprayed our car with weapons for at least four or five minutes.
‘I could not move the vehicle since the engine broke down. We shouted at the soldiers that we were journalists.
‘We also took our T-shirts off and waved them out of windows. Some four or five minutes later, soldiers approached us.’
The pair were treated at a Russian military hospital in Tshinvali before returning to Turkey.
The two other members of the team escaped unharmed.
In a separate incident near the besieged Georgian town of Gori, Tamara Urushadze, a correspondent for Georgian state television, was shot at by a sniper while conducting a live report.
The bullet clipped her left arm, leaving her bleeding.
After being hit, Ms Urushadze took cover behind a vehicle with her cameraman before being given first aid by a Reuters television producer who witnessed the incident.
While being bandaged, Ms Urushadze continued her report, informing viewers that she had been hit.
As one of her team belatedly gave her a flak jacket, she said: ‘I have been hit by a bullet. You can see I am scratched here.
‘Most likely it was a sniper. It has most likely been a light weapon since it’s a minor wound.’
Russian troops entered Georgia at the weekend after the Georgian army launched an assault on the separatist region of South Ossetia.
The two sides have since agreed a ceasefire but Russian troops continue to blockade the strategic town of Gori and have been accused of using cluster bombs against civilians.
