NOTE: This post has been updated and corrected with new information about Chris Hondros. A highly acclaimed journalist and filmmaker has been killed in Libya, it was reported Wednesday. Tim Hetherington, an Oscar-nominated filmmaker and photographer, was killed in the city of Misrata while covering fighting between Muammar Gaddafi’s forces and Libyan rebels. Hetherington and three colleagues were hit by mortar fire. Andre Liohn, a fellow photographer in Libya, wrote on Facebook on Wednesday that Hetherington died “when covering the front line.” Hetherington was a contributing photographer for Vanity Fair, and co-directed the Afghan war film “Restrepo” with author Sebastian Junger. The last tweet on his Twitter account reads, “In besieged Libyan city of Misrata. Indiscriminate shelling by Qaddafi forces. No sign of NATO.” Hetherington’s family released a statement to Vanity Fair on Wednesday. It read, in part, “It is with great sadness we learned that our son and brother, photographer and filmmaker Tim Hetherington, was killed today…he will be forever missed.” One of the three other photographers, Chris Hondros, was initially reported to have died. Liohn wrote on his wall soon after initially reporting Hetherington’s death, “Chris Hondros died now.” Liohn later told the New York Times that Hondros is in a coma, having suffered a serious brain injury. Two other photographers, Guy Martin and Michael Brown, were also injured by the mortar fire. Brown is reportedly not badly hurt, but Martin’s wounds are said to be severe. Liohn’s Facebook post, which has since been taken down, prompted an outpouring of concerned and grief-stricken replies from the journalists’ colleagues and friends, and briefly became a sort of rolling news bulletin, as Liohn updated the information he was receiving at the hospital. Leila Fadel, a Washington Post reporter, was also at the hospital and described what happened to the paper: Hetherington appeared to be bleeding heavily from his leg and was very pale, she said. About 15 minutes after his arrival, doctors in the tent pronounced him dead…about 10 minutes later, another ambulance brought Hondros and other photographers to the hospital. Hondros had suffered a severe head injury. As doctors paused to examine a scan of Hondros’s brain, they told Fadel that shrapnel had hit the photographer in the forehead and passed through the back of his head. They asked her to hold his helmet. The war in Libya has been intensely dangerous for journalists. Beyond the multiple kidnappings and abuses reporters have suffered, Hetherington’s death brings the number of journalists killed to at least two. Hondros had been working for Getty in Libya. On Wednesday, the agency posted new photos taken just before Hondros was injured. They show just how close he was to the fighting and to the destruction it was causing. Photos by Chris Hondros (all images taken on 4/20 for Getty):
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on April 20, 2011. Filed under News.
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on April 20, 2011. Filed under