Journalist injured after U.S. embassy blast 'has passed the critical condition'

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet

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Turkish journalist Didem Tuncay is currently at Ankara’s Numune Hospital receiving treatment for injuries sustained in a bombing at the U.S. embassy in the capital earlier today.

Tuncay, who reportedly at the site to file a visa application, suffered a head wound and was taken to the hospital around 1:40 p.m., just minutes after the blast occurred.

Interior Minister Muammer Güler, who visited Tuncay at the hospital, said the journalist's surgery was successful and she had passed the life-threatening situation. Doctors are treating her eye, which was severely injured in the explosion, Güler said.

The doctors also confirmed that Tuncay was recovering after the surgery. "We detected internal bleeding related to a ruptured spleen and performed the necessary operation. As stated before, her right eye had been injured by shell fragments. Specialists did the surgery and we are continuing to monitor our patient's situation in the intensive care unit," said the Numune Hospital manager, Nurullah Zengin.

Zengin added that Tuncay's right eye would need further surgeries and any loss of sight would be determined afterward.

Tuncay was a former reporter for the private NTV channel.

A suicide bomb attack at the U.S. Embassy in Ankara killed one Turkish security guard along with the attacker.