French freelance photographer Olivier Voisin has died after suffering severe wounds in a shelling in Syria, France's foreign ministry announced on Sunday.
"We confirm his death," a ministry spokeswoman said. Voisin sustained shrapnel wounds to his head and arm after a shell exploded in Idlib in northern Syria on Thursday, according to the Associated Press (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20130222/ml-syria/?utm_hp_ref=homepage&ir=homepage). He underwent surgery at a hospital in Antakya, Turkey on Friday.
His last letter (http://www.huffingtonpost.fr/antoine-vitkine/la-derniere-lettre-olivier-voisin-photographe-francais-syrie_b_2753180.html?utm_hp_ref=france) — sent to his friend and foreign correspondent Mimosa Martin — was published to his Facebook wall, and detailed some of his experiences in Syria.
France 24 reported (http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2013/Feb-24/207735-french-photographer-dies-after-syria-shelling-ministry.ashx#axzz2Lq1nW2qZ) that Voisin provided the AFP with about a dozen pictures from Aleppo in January. Some of his work from Syria (http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.3096803587726.2156299.1493212223&type=3) is on Facebook, and his website (http://oliviervoisin.fr/tagged/Syria). He also covered events in Libya, Somalia, Brazil, Haiti, Kenya and the United States.
Syria is one of — if not the most — deadliest countries (http://www.cpj.org/reports/2012/12/journalist-deaths-spike-in-2012-due-to-syria-somal.php) in the world for journalists. Twenty-eight journalists died in 2012, while others remain held captive. The grave risk has led at least one newspaper to stop accepting work from Syria (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/05/sunday-times-journalists-photographs-syria_n_2622101.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000003), explaining that "the dangers of operating there are too great."
Via: HuffingtonPost