Ghost Inside's Zach endured 26 hours of surgery

The Ghost Inside guitarist Zach Johnson says he’s been through 26 hours of surgery in the wake of last month’s fatal tour bus crash.

The band’s driver Greg Hoke died in the road accident in El Paso, Texas, along with the driver of the other vehicle involved, Steven Cunningham. Johnson, drummer Andrew Tkaczykt and frontman Jonathan Vigil were airlifted to hospital and later were said to be in critical condition.

Now Johnson has spoken for the first time about his injuries and treatment, saying he potentially still faces more surgery. In a Twitter post, he says: “I’ve had about 26 hours of surgery fixing my feet, legs and hip and might have another to go.

“I can’t say how much all the support from my friends, family and strangers around the world has been. It means more to me than you will ever know. I’ve never been happier to be breathing. All the love.”

Johnson adds that he won’t go into detail about his bandmates’ conditions, saying it’s up to them to decide whether they want to make their own statements.

The Ghost Inside this week issued a collective statement, saying some of the injured parties face months of rehabilitation and that they’ve put all of their touring commitments on hold.

A GoFundMe page has been set up for Hoke’s family. A separate GoFundMe set up to benefit all of the victims of the crash has so far raised $145,000.

See more

Stef wrote close to 5,000 stories during his time as assistant online news editor and later as online news editor between 2014-2016. An accomplished reporter and journalist, Stef has written extensively for a number of UK newspapers and also played bass with UK rock favourites Logan. His favourite bands are Pixies and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Stef left the world of rock'n'roll news behind when he moved to his beloved Canada in 2016, but he started on his next 5000 stories in 2022.