A News presenter at ITV, Rageh Omaar has been admitted for medical intervention after becoming “unwell” live on air, the station has said.
Omaar was presenting the channel’s News at Ten programme on Friday when he started struggling to read the bulletins.
The incident sparked concern on social media.
Omaar, 53 was a foreign correspondent for the BBC and currently serves as international affairs editor at ITV News.
“We are aware that viewers are concerned about Rageh Omaar’s wellbeing,” an ITV News spokesperson said.
“Rageh became unwell while presenting News at Ten on Friday and is now receiving medical care.
“He thanks everyone for their well wishes.”
Meanwhile, ITV dropped the programme from its scheduled repeat on ITV+1. It informed viewers instead, that ITV was “temporarily unable to bring you our +1 service”.
“We will resume shortly,” it said.
A newsreader for ITV’s Good Morning Britain who is Omaar’s colleague, Marverine Cole posted on X, formerly known as Twitter that she wished Omaar “all the very best”
Omaar began his journalistic career in 1990 as a trainee at The Voice newspaper in Brixton, south London. He got into limelight while reporting the war in Iraq for the BBC in 2003.
In 1991, he freelanced as a foreign correspondent in Ethiopia, with much of his work broadcast by BBC World Service.
Omaar first became a BBC correspondent in 1997, when he was posted to Amman in Jordan.
He now covers major news stories across the world for ITV News and also presents current affairs programme On Assignment.
Omaar who is originally from Somalia was born in 1967. He schooled at Cheltenham Boys College and went on to study modern history at Oxford University.
