SRINAGAR: In an unfortunate incident, a Kashmiri photojournalist lost vision in his left eye and suffered critical injuries to the other one after he fell into an uncovered pit in the Lal Chowk area of Srinagar.
Hailing from the Batpora area in north Kashmir’s Sopore, Bilal Ahmed, who works as a photojournalist for a Srinagar-based newspaper, said that on Saturday he was on an assignment to cover the night view of the ‘Smart City’ when he fell into a pit just outside the Biscoe school.
“At around 10:30 pm, I went out to capture the images of ‘Smart City’ when I suddenly fell into an open pit. I cried for help and remained in the pit for more than 15 minutes,” Bilal said, adding that after some time a Scorpio driver came to his rescue and pulled him out.
Later, Bilal’s Journalist friends reached the spot and rushed him to SMHS hospital.
“My friends took me to the hospital, where I was given first aid. I have seven stitches in my ear and several parts of my body are wounded badly, Bilal said.
“My family later shifted me to the eye hospital Nowgam where doctors said that my left eye is completely damaged. I cannot see from my right eye also but they said it can be because of some underlying infection and may recover in the coming days,” he said.
In the incident, Bilal’s cameras and mobile phones got damaged too.
Coming from a humble background, 21-year-old Bilal has been working as a photojournalist for two years now.
