French photographer dies from injuries received in northern Syria

Reporters Without Borders is deeply saddened to learn that Olivier Voisin, a 35-year-old French freelance photographer, died early today in Antakya International Hospital, in southeastern Turkey, from the injuries he had received three days earlier in northern Syria. “We offer our most since condolences to Olivier Voisin’s family,” Reporters Without Borders secretary-general Christophe Deloire said. “His tragic death, just two days after the first anniversary of the deaths of French photographer Rémi Ochlik and US reporter Marie Colvin in Homs, has again highlighted the heavy price being paid by those covering Syria’s armed conflict. I pay tribute to the 23 journalists and 54 citizen-journalists who have lost their lives in Syria since the start of the uprising in March 2011.” Voisin sustained serious head and arm injuries from an exploding shell on 21 February while covering the operations of a katiba (armed opposition group) near the northern city of Idlib. He was taken unconscious to the hospital in the Turkish border city of Antakya the same day and underwent an operation to his arm the following afternoon. An attempt to repatriate him was aborted yesterday. He died at 00:44 today without ever recovering consciousness. Employed by French and international media, Voisin had worked all over the world.