TV news producer Dominique van Heerden and her colleagues came under attack while covering the invasion in Ukraine.
SOUTH African-born TV news producer Dominique van Heerden and her colleagues came under attack while covering the Russian invasion in Ukraine.
Van Heerden works with Sky News.
In dramatic footage, the team could be seen driving to get to the town of Bucha, about 30km from the centre of Kyiv, but were stopped as they came under attack.
Thinking that they were misidentified by the Ukrainian army checkpoint, the crew plead for the shooting to stop and shouted that they are journalists. But to no avail, as the shooting continued.
“Somehow we have to get out of this but the rounds keep coming,” said Sky News chief correspondent Stuart Ramsay in his report. “It’s a professional ambush. The bullets just don’t miss.”
According to Sky News, the first round cracked the windscreen. They reported that “bullets cascaded through the whole of the car, tracers, bullet flashes, windscreen glass, plastic seats, the steering wheel, and dashboard had disintegrated.”
Then camera operator Richie Mockler was shot twice and Ramsay was injured.
They were later told that they were ambushed by a saboteur Russian reconnaissance squad.
The Sky News team have been evacuated from Ukraine and are safely in the UK.
In an Instagram post by Van Heerden, she said she did not know how they made it out alive, a sentiment shared by Ramsay.
“Not sure how we survived this – but somehow we did, and everyone is okay. We are home now but our minds are on Ukraine, everyone there, and those who have died.”
