Several journalists at the Africa Cup of Nations in Ivory Coast were involved in a bus accident in the early hours of Wednesday morning as they travelled back to Abidjan from the country’s capital city of Yamoussoukro, where they had gone to cover two final group stage matches, including Senegal’s 2-0 victory over Guinea on Tuesday night.
The AFCON bus crashed as it approached its final destination – the AFCON Main Media Centre in Abidjan. The accident was said to have occurred around 2am local time. According to local media, the bus veered off the road and hit the wall of a warehouse.
Alex Cizmic, a former AIPS Young Reporter, who was in the bus, said a lot of people were slightly injured. According to reports, the injured were taken to the University Hospital Centre in Teichville, Abidjan. An exhausted Cizmic managed to send a short voice note to the AIPS President Gianni Merlo from the hospital.
A Nigerian journalist Oluwaseun Oyediji posted a photo of the bruises he sustained during the incident on X.
The driver and the bus coordinator were seriously injured. The latter, whose foot was stuck, was successfully rescued.
Credit: AIPS