Photographers Killed in MISRATA

ByStander

MISRATA, Libya—Two news photographers, including the Oscar-nominated co-director of the 2010 film "Restrepo," were killed Wednesday in Libya during a battle between rebel and government forces.

Tim Hetherington, who made the war documentary set in Afghanistan and was also a contributing photographer to Vanity Fair, was killed when an explosive round landed in a group of press photographers accompanying a rebel patrol in the western city of Misrata.

The Oscar-nominated co-director of the 2010 film "Restrepo" was killed Wednesday in Libya amid a battle between rebel and government forces. Christopher Farley has more on Tim Hetherington and his work.

Another photographer, Chris Hondros, died after sustaining a grave head wound in the same incident.

Mr. Hondros was working for Getty Images when he was hit. His photos showing house-to-house fighting in Misrata's main street on Tuesday were released by Getty before reports of his injury emerged.

One other photographer, Guy Martin, was in stable condition after undergoing surgery.

The Al Hikma hospital confirmed the photographers' deaths. Medical officials at the hospital also said seven rebel fighters were slain in fighting in Misrata on Wednesday, as well as a Ukranian physician who was killed by shelling as he prepared to work. The physician's wife, a nurse, lost both her legs in the shelling.

Photographer Chris Hondros caught this image of rebel fighters moving into a building on Tripoli Street Wednesday before he and others were injured.

Officials said more than 120 wounded had come to the hospital for treatment in the last day, severely straining resources. The Al Hikma hospital has become Misrata's trauma hospital since the main city hospital was shelled early in the fighting.

The hospital has been expanded to 65 beds from the original 45. At the current daily casualty rate, officials said, medical supplies will run out in two weeks.

Rebel forces were gradually retaking the area after an incursion last month by troops loyal to Col. Moammar Gadhafi that left the rebel-held city besieged.

Human-rights groups have warned the situation in Misrata is increasingly dire. Hundreds of migrant workers and wounded people have been evacuated by boats, which have also delivered humanitarian supplies, including food and medicine.

Mr. Hetherington's heart had already stopped beating when he arrived at the hospital with extensive shrapnel wounds. He was treated with CPR for an extended period in a tent that serves as the hospital's makeshift emergency room before being declared dead.

To make "Restrepo," Mr. Hetherington and co-director Sebastian Junger filmed during hundreds of hours on patrol with an American platoon stationed in the Korengal Valley in Afghanistan. The region is billed as "the deadliest place on earth," and the film included graphic footage of firefights and their aftermath.

In addition to being nominated for the best documentary feature Oscar, "Restrepo" was named best documentary at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival.

Mr. Hetherington also produced films and news reports from Darfur and Liberia.

Mr. Hondros was a veteran war photographer who has covered conflicts to Kosovo in the late 1990s. He was a finalist for the 2004 Pulitzer Prize in the Spot News Photography category.

Mr. Martin is a freelance photographer who led photo coverage for The Wall Street Journal of the Egypt uprising earlier this year.

Messrs. Hetherington and Hondros arrived in Misrata on Sunday on a Greek liner being used to evacuate refugees and foreign workers from Misrata to the rebel stronghold at Benghazi. During the 24-hour cruise, Mr. Hetherington entertained other photojournalists with tales of making "Restrepo" and his ideas for online presentations in the future.

The bodies of Mr. Hetherington and Mr. Hondros were being transferred to the Ionian Spirit, a boat being used to transfer Misrata refugees to Benghazi, Human Rights Watch said Wednesday.

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