60 Minutes Correspondent Bob Simon Has Been Killed in a Car Crash

Bob Simon, the veteran CBS News reporter and correspondent for the network’s iconic 60 Minutes show, was killed in a car accident Wednesday evening.

According to a report from CBS, Simon was in the backseat of a livery cab on New York city’s West Side Highway at 6:45 p.m. on Wednesday when the crash took place. The car rear-ended another vehicle and crashed into the highway’s central barrier, a statement from the New York police department said. Simon was taken to a nearby hospital with injuries to his head and torso, and died after reaching the hospital. The cabdriver has been taken to a different hospital with injuries to his arms and legs, authorities said.

Simon covered the Vietnam War and several other major stories, reporting from Northern Ireland, Portugal, Cyprus, the Middle East and many more in an award-winning career spanning five decades. He was 73 years old.

“It’s a terrible loss for all of us at CBS News,” said a statement from 60 Minutes executive producer Jeff Fager. “It is such a tragedy made worse because we lost him in a car accident, a man who has escaped more difficult situations than almost any journalist in modern times.”

[CBS]