A photojournalist in Iraq narrowly escaped death after an Islamic State sniper shot the GoPro camera hanging from his neck.
The sniper’s bullet struck Ammar Alwaely while he was on location in Mosul, Iraq, The Sun reported Tuesday. Owen Holdaway, a journalist for The Sun, caught the dramatic incident on video.
“At first I did not know what happened. I fell to the floor and could not turn around to see if Ammar was OK,” said Owen, after the close call.
https://youtu.be/5QtL01oZ4D8
Iraqi journalist was saved by his GoPro camera after being targeted by an #isis sniper earlier today in #mosul pic.twitter.com/X3OJeIX9DE
— Steven nabil (@thestevennabil) May 12, 2017
“Crawling along to behind the vehicle, I eventually looked up and saw it had hit my old GoPro that I had given him just a few days earlier. “The explosion had smashed the camera, spraying plastic into his face and cutting his lip. I knew immediately, if it had not hit the camera, or been a few inches to the right, it would have hit his heart, and be fatal.”