War Reporter Died Trying To Retrieve Shoes

War correspondent Marie Colvin died trying to retrieve her shoes so she could escape an army bombardment in Syria, The Sunday Times has said.

The newspaper, which Ms Colvin worked for, has published details of her last hours as hopes to rescue journalists wounded alongside her in the besieged city of Homs have begun to fade.

It says Ms Colvin, 56, was with five other journalists when they went into a building housing a rebel press centre in the district of Baba Amr.

When they entered they followed the Middle Eastern custom of taking off their shoes and tried to recover them as rockets fell.

Ms Colvin was on the ground floor on Wednesday morning when missiles hit the upper floors.

The journalists - who included Paul Conroy, a photographer working for The Sunday Times, three French nationals and a Spaniard - were covered in dust but unhurt.

They prepared to flee but had to get their shoes first.

Ms Colvin ran to the hall, where she had left hers, but when she got there, a rocket landed at the front of the building, a few yards away.

The blast killed her and Remi Ochlik, a 28-year-old French photojournalist. Mr Conroy, in a nearby room, was hit by shrapnel in the leg and stomach; and Edith Bouvier, a French journalist, suffered multiple leg fractures.

The newspaper said hopes have faded for the rescue of Mr Conroy and Ms Bouvier, who both urgently need medical treatment, and the others.

Reports said the evacuation had run into trouble because of distrust between Syrian government forces and opposition groups during a ceasefire.

Mr Conroy was reported to be refusing to leave without Ms Colvin's body despite being in danger of potentially life-threatening infection if his wounds were not treated.

Ms Colvin's partner sent a message saying she had always been concerned about the living and "please let no more people die... for her body".

Seven rebels were found dead with their hands tied after trying to smuggle medicines into Baba Amr to help the journalists and other injured civilians.

The medicines were scattered and two other rebels were missing, the newspaper said.

Ms Colvin, an American, had been a war correspondent for the Sunday Times for 20 years.

Her career took her to some of the world's most dangerous conflict zones, and she continued working even after losing an eye to a shrapnel wound in Sri Lanka in 2001.

View post:
War Reporter Died Trying To Retrieve Shoes