New York Times photographer seriously injured in Afghanistan

New York Times photographer seriously injured in Afghanistan

2010-10-23 18:12:14 GMT+7 (ICT)

KABUL (BNO NEWS) -- A New York Times photographer was seriously injured on Saturday when he stepped on a mine while on patrol with American service members in southern Afghanistan, the paper said.

The incident happened while photographer Joao Silva, 44, and a New York Times reporter were traveling with a patrol of the 101st Airborne Division. They were moving through an area near the town of Arghandab, in Kandahar province, when Silva stepped on a mine.

The paper said a group of minesweepers and bomb-sniffing dogs had already moved over the area, several steps ahead of Silva, when the bomb detonated.

The New York Times said Silva was wounded in his legs and was evacuated to Kandahar Air Field where he is receiving treatment. The reporter who was with him was not immediately identified, but was not reported to be injured.

"Joao is the state-of-the-art war photographer, fearless but careful, with an amazing eye," said Bill Keller, executive editor of The Times. "We’re all waiting anxiously and praying for his quick recovery."

Silva, who was born in Portugal and received many awards, began his career at the local South African newspaper the Alberton Record. He joined Johannesburg daily newspaper "The Star" in 1991 as a staff photographer and later joined the Associated Press in 1994.

Two years later, however, Silva left the Associated Press and began working for the New York Times as a regular freelancer. Eventually, in 2000, Silva became a contract photographer at the paper.

Also in 2000, Silva co-authored with Greg Marinovich 'The Bang-Bang Club', a factual account of press photographers who covered the end of the apartheid era in South Africa. In 2005, Silva published the photographic book 'In The Company of God'.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2010-10-23