BernamaTV cameraman killed in Somalia

KUALA LUMPUR: BernamaTV cameraman Noramfaizul Mohd Nor (pic), who was in Somalia with the Putera 1Malaysia Club for the humanitarian aid mission in Mogadishu, has been killed by a stray bullet.

Allahyarham Noramfaizul Mohd Nor (Circled)

Another cameraman, Aji Siregar Mazlan from TV3, suffered light injuries in the incident yesterday which occurred at about 10.30pm Malay-sian time.

Noramfaizul, 41, passed away at 11.07pm while receiving medical attention.

According to BernamaTV journalist Khairulanuar Yahaya, Noramfai-zul was travelling with members of the electronic media on a truck heading to the city's commercial centre to send visuals that were earlier recorded.

Khairulanuar said shots were fired at a government army truck that was accompanying the media vehicle and a stray bullet hit Noramfaizul, who was seated by the door. The bullet pierced his lungs.

His body is expected to be flown home today while the rest of the Malaysian media personnel have been taken out of Somalia.

Astro Awani journalist Tan Su Lin said that she was seated in front of Noramfaizul when she heard two shots.

“I turned to the back and saw Noramfaizul in pain. We quickly got out of the place,” she said, adding that everyone was in shock.

“Everything happened in a flash,” she said.

Tan said as soon as they returned to their base camp, the decision was made to leave Mogadishu.
“We have been told to pack up and are likely to leave here by 5.30am (Somalian time) and reach Kuala Lumpur 24 hours later,” she said.

Tan said Putera 1Malaysia Club chairman Datuk Abdul Azeez Rahim, head of the humanitarian aid team, was finalising arrangements.

The aid team, assisted by 26 Royal Malaysian Air Force personnel, arrived in Mogadishu a C-130 aircraft on Monday, bringing along 250 tonnes of food and medicine for 45,000 families in Somalia.

They were originally scheduled to return on Thursday