ABC News
Body Armor Likely Saved ABC News Pair
U.S. Medical Center Commander Says Body Armor Likely Saved ABC News Anchor Woodruff, Cameraman
News anchor Bob Woodruff poses for a photograph in ABC's "World News Tonight" studio in this Monday, Dec. 5, 2005 file photo, in New York. Woodruff and a cameraman were seriously injured Sunday, Jan. 29 in an explosion while reporting from Iraq, the network said Sunday. Woodruff and cameraman Doug Vogt were hit by an improvised explosive device near Taji, Iraq. They were embedded with the 4th Infantry Division and traveling with an Iraqi mechanized vehicle. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens, FILE)
By DAVID BAUDER AP Television Writer
NEW YORK Jan 30, 2006 (AP)— Surgeons removed shrapnel from ABC News anchor Bob Woodruff's head and neck, a family friend said Monday, and a hospital official said body armor likely saved the journalist's life.
Woodruff and cameraman Doug Vogt were seriously injured when a roadside bomb exploded Sunday while they standing in the open hatch of an Iraqi military vehicle. They underwent surgery in Iraq, then were flown to a U.S. military base in Germany for further treatment.
"They're both very seriously injured, but stable," said Col. Bryan Gamble, commander of the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in western Germany. He said both men were heavily sedated and under the care of the hospital's trauma team.
Their body armor likely saved them, "otherwise these would have been fatal wounds," Gamble said.
Woodruff, the new co-anchor of "World News Tonight," had serious head wounds and broken bones, and Vogt also suffered head injuries, ABC News said. The network said the mens' wives were at the hospital and talking with doctors Monday.
Former "NBC Nightly News" anchor Tom Brokaw said Monday that he had spoken with Woodruff's wife, Lee, and said the family told him they had received "some encouraging news."
"The doctors had told them once they arrived that the brain swelling had gone down. In Bob's case, that had been a big concern. Yesterday they had to operate and remove part of the skull cap to relieve some of the swelling," Brokaw said on NBC'S "Today" show.
The family also learned some details about the explosion from people who were there, Brokaw said.
"Immediately after the explosion he turned to his producer and said 'Am I alive?' and 'Don't tell Lee,' and then he began to cry out in excruciating pain," Brokaw said.
He said the family told him doctors don't know for sure whether shrapnel penetrated Woodruff's brain but they were removing additional shrapnel from his neck area.
ABC News President David Westin, speaking on "Good Morning America," said risks to news personnel are assessed every day in a country where there were 221 attacks by explosive devices last week alone. But it's important to cover the news, he said.
