CNN reporter hit by shell in Libya, continues reporting

Tuesday 23 Aug 2011
CNN reporter Sara Sidner experienced the hazards of covering an unstable region Tuesday when she was hit by a shell of a bullet shot in celebration of the rebel takeover of Tripoli in Libya, Hollywood Reporter reports.

Ms Sidner was describing the scene in and around Moammar Gadhafi’s seized compound – consisting mainly of groups of armed rebels firing machine guns in the air – when a shell of one of the bullets hit her.

She and her camera crew pulled back into an area protected from stray bullets by two walls. She assured her home base anchors that she was fine and continued her report, showing a discarded army uniform and saying that she and her crew found army guns abandoned in the street. Her coverage can be watched here.

Ms Sidner’s CNN colleague Piers Morgan was apparently floored by her perseverance throughout the broadcast, as he tweeted a series of comments about her field reporting. “‘I’m getting hit by shells’ – yet still @sarasidnerCNN carries on reporting. What’s the reporter equivalent of a Purple Heart?”

Mr Morgan also wrote of Ms Sidner, “I have never seen reporting quite like this from @sarasidnerCNN at Gadhafi’s compound right now – in absolute awe of my #CNN colleague”.

Ms Sidner is the network’s New Delhi-based international correspondent and is responsible for coverage of India and South Asia.