From Amsterdam on May 7th 2011, Jodi Bieber, a South African World Press prize winning photographer, made an emotional appeal to call attention to the disappearance of her colleague Anton Hammerl, 41.

Unfortunately, on Friday May 20th, his family made a declaration on Facebook confirming his death in Libya on april 5th while traveling with his peers and rebels in the desert near Brega. The journalists and rebels were shot by pro-Qadaffii forces.

James Foley (GlobalPost), Nigel Chandler, Clare Morgana Gillis, an American stringer and Manu Brabo, a Spanish photographer explained the circumstances of his death following their liberation from Tripoli.

“Everything happened in a fraction of a second. We originally thought we were caught in the middle of a combat, then we realized they were firing at us. You could see and hear the bullets landing on the ground near us. Anton Hammerl, who was closest to the action, yelled for help, then went silent” declared James Foley.

James Foley added that they were afraid they would risk their lives if they revealed Hammerl’s death while in captivity. But they contacted his wife, Penny Sukhraj, immediately after crossing the border into Tunisia.

Anton Hammerl had left for Libya in March as a freelance. He was an experienced journalist who had worked in South Africa in the ’90’s. He had been based in London since 2006.

Michel Puech