Sunday, April 24, 2011

Tim Hetherington killed in Libya

An Oscar-nominated war-film director and a second prize-winning photojournalist died covering a battle between rebels and Libyan government forces in the western city of Misrata on Wednesday, 20 April 2011.


British-born Tim Hetherington, co-director of the 2010 documentary "Restrepo" about U.S. soldiers on an outpost in Afghanistan, was killed, said his U.S.-based publicist, Johanna Ramos Boyer. Hetherington was best known as co-director of the documentary film "Restrepo" with Sebastian Junger, author of "The Perfect Storm." The film tells the story of the 2nd Platoon of Battle Company in the 173rd Airborne Combat Team on its deployment in Afghanistan in 2007 and 2008. It was nominated for an Academy Award for best documentary. The title refers to the platoon outpost, named after a popular soldier, Juan Restrepo, who was killed early in the fighting. (I had blogged about the documentary earlier HERE)

Chris Hondros, a New York-based photographer for Getty Images, died later Wednesday after suffering a serious head wound, according to Getty's director of photography, Pancho Bernasconi.

Two other Western photographers apparently working alongside them were wounded. Doctors said two other photographers were treated for shrapnel wounds: Guy Martin, a Briton affiliated with the Panos photo agency, and Michael Christopher Brown, a New York-based photographer originally from Skagit Valley, Wash.

"Tim was in Libya to continue his ongoing multimedia project to highlight humanitarian issues during time of war and conflict," Hetherington's family said in a statement. "He will be forever missed." [source: nbc]

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

thanks to you alex, i went to watch his documentary "restrepo". it was very well done. the images were very real and raw. so true to life. may Tim R.I.P..

alex teo said...

You are most welcome :) I'd seen the documentary recently as well and I felt that he really brought the realism of the war across very well, no hollywood mambo jumbo. I was saddened when I read about his death in the papers.