A Western photojournalist has been killed and another seriously injured while covering battles between rebels and Libyan government forces, according to a doctor in the besieged city of Misrata.
The photographer has been named as Tim Hetherington (41), an Oscar-nominated film director and conflict photographer who produced the film Restrepo.
Getty photographer Chris Hondros is in a critical condition in intensive care, doctors at the hospital where he was being treated said. He is suffering from brain injuries.
The photographers were among a group caught by mortar fire on Tripoli Street, the main thoroughfare leading into the centre of Misrata, the only major rebel-held town in western Libya and besieged by Muammar Gadafy's forces for more than seven weeks.
"It was quiet and we were trying to get away and then a mortar landed and we heard explosions," Spanish photographer Guillermo Cervera said.
Mr Hetherington, also a still photographer who won the 2007 World Press Photo of the Year award, co-directed with Sebastian Junger the 2010 Afghan war documentary Restrepo, which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary. He is originally from Liverpool.
Mr Hondros is an award winning photographer who covered major conflicts including Kosovo, Angola, Sierra Leone, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Kashmir, the West Bank, Iraq and Liberia, according to his website.
Mr Hondros received multiple awards including the 2005 Robert Capa gold medal. His work in Liberia earned him a Pulitzer Prize nomination.
Agencies