Lebanese-American reporter’s camerawoman ‘sole culprit’ in car crash case

Dinçer Gökçe

Serena Shim was killed when the car her team had rented collided with a heavy vehicle in Suruç.

An official report has concluded that a camerawoman driving the car in which a Lebanese-American journalist was killed in southeastern Turkey on Oct. 19 was the sole culprit in the accident.

Serena Shim, 30, was killed while returning to her hotel in the city of Suruç in the province of Şanlıurfa when the car her team had rented collided with a heavy vehicle. Her camerawoman, Judy Irish, who was driving the car, was injured in the crash.

According to the crash report prepared by the local gendarmerie, Irish “entered the junction too fast, violating a lane as well as traffic rules by turning right.” The report concluded that all responsibility lied with Irish, while Şükrü Salan, the driver of the concrete mixer that she collided with, was not in any way responsible.

“A car traveling at a very high speed went out of control, entered my lane and came under my truck,” Salan had said in his first testimony after the accident.

The speed indicator of the rented car showed that it had risen above 70 km/h when it was inspected after the crash, the report said.

Salan was briefly detained after the accident, while Irish is still in hospital. Shim was buried in Beirut on Oct. 22.