VIDEO: Reporter robbed at gunpoint just before going live

JOHANNESBURG -- Seconds before going on air, a TV reporter in South Africa was mugged in full view of the cameras.

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Vuyo Mvoko, an SABC reporter in South Africa, was about to give a live report when two men approached him and started grabbing at his phone.

"I was really truly seconds before going on air," he described later, explaining that he did not see them coming before they were in the shot. "The light was on me. You can't see the other people."

One of the men drew a gun as they demanded equipment from Mvoko, he said, and from the two other journalists on the story, Chriselda Lewis and Sophie Mokoena. At Mokoena's insistence, Mvoko surrendered his phone. Lewis said the men threatened to kill them.

When the men left, the group called the police. They were worried that while they waited the men may return and try to take more of the equipment, Mvoko said.

The live shot the journalists had set up illuminated the two alleged thieves, giving a shot of their faces.

Police are asking for help identifying the men in the video. No arrests have been made, according to the TV station.