ABC News anchor Bob Woodruff and cameraman Doug Vogt are out of surgery and in stable condition, according to the U.S. military and an ABC producer on the scene, said ABC News President David Westin in a statement at 1:10 p.m. Sunday.
Westin said the military plans to evacuate them to their medical facilities in Landstuhl, Germany, likely overnight tonight.
"We take this as good news, but the next few days will be critical," he said.
Woodruff, the co-anchor of World News Tonight, and Vogt suffered serious injuries early today in a roadside explosion in Taji, Iraq. The two sustained immediate shrapnel injuries to the head and Vogt a broken shoulder from the bomb, an improvised explosive device, or IED. They were embedded with the 4 th Infantry Division, traveling with an Iraqi Army unit in an Iraqi mechanized vehicle.
Woodruff's co-anchor, Elizabeth Vargas, anchored World News Tonight Sunday tonight and closed the program by calling Woodruff and Vogt "two of the very best in this business."
"Bob and Doug were in Iraq doing what reporters do, trying to find out what's happening there up-close and first-hand. All of us are mindful of the risks and the dangers," she said.
"Bob and Doug always take care to balance those risks with the need to report the story.We are all very concerned about our friends tonight and their wives, and their children.
"And we are reminded once again in a very personal way, of what so many families of American servicemen and women endure so often, when they receive news of their loved one being hurt. Our thoughts and prayers are with those families as well."
