Liverpool-born director Tim Hetherington, whose documentary Restrepo was nominated for an Oscar, has been killed in the Libyan city of Misrata along with Getty photographer Chris Hondros. He was 40.
Hetherington was filming a battle for control of a bridge with fellow photographers Andre Liohn, Michael Brown and Chris Hondros when they were struck by a rocket-propelled grenade. He is believed to have been killed instantly. His companions were wounded and Hondros died later in hospital.
James Goldston of ABC news, who worked with Hetherington, remarked today that he was "one of the bravest photographers and filmmakers I have ever met."
As well as directing Restrepo, Hetherington worked as cinematographer on The Devil Came On Horseback, which explored the realities of the genocide in Darfur, and he spent many months investigating the conflict in Liberia despite its then president, Charles Taylor, personally ordering his execution. He won multiple awards for his filmmaking and photography.
The staff at Dogwoof, who worked with Hetherington when Restrepo was released in the UK, described him as "engaging, passionate and very modest... Tim aimed to highlight the plight of people so often ignored by the world and the mainstream media, and this tragic event sadly becomes his ultimate sacrifice in bringing attention to the horrors unfolding in Libya, the scale of which can no longer be overlooked."
