Documentary director Tim Hetherington killed in Libya

(HMG Celebrity News) – Director Tim Hetherington, a four time winner of the world press photographer award, was killed Wednesday along with American photojournalist Chris Hondros, in the midst of heavy fighting in Libya, The Washington Post reports.

Oscar-nominated Hetherington, 40, was in the war-torn country with Pulitzer Prize-nominated Getty photojournalist Chris Hondros, 41, and both were killed as Moammar Gaddafi’s forces continued their siege on rebels in the city of Misrata. Two other photojournalists were also hurt during the attack and eight civilians were killed.   The photographers arrived in Misrata by sea on Wednesday morning, and were struck by either an RPG or a high-explosive mortar blast. They were alive when they reached the hospital, but Heterhington went into cardiac arrest and Hondros died later from brain injuries.

British-born Hetherington rose to fame when ‘Restrepo,’ his documentary chronicling the deployment of U.S. soldiers at an outpost which had no running water or roads leading to it in Afghanistan’s Korengal Valley, was nominated for an Academy Award earlier this year.

Hetherington was currently working for Vanity Fair magazine and in a statement on the magazine’s website, his family said: “It is with great sadness we learned that our son and brother, photographer and filmmaker, Tim Hetherington was killed in Misrata, Libya, by a rocket-propelled grenade.