SA photographer Joao Silva lost portions of both his legs during a landmine blast in Afghanistan, yet continued to take pictures while paramedics treated him, the New York Times said on Saturday.
“He has lost portions of both legs. Also some pelvic damage and internal bleeding,” newspaper spokesperson Robert Christie said in an email to the South African Press Association.
“Here’s all you need to know about the guy … [reporter] Carlotta [Gall] reports that Joao kept shooting pictures after the blast, as the medics expertly applied tourniquets, gave him morphine, and stretchered him to the helicopter,” he said.
Christie said Silva was being flown to Bagram air base near Kabul on Saturday night, where his wounds would be cleaned and checked before he was sent to Germany.
“His wife got a full, painful briefing from the surgeon, who says he is not out of the woods yet but is extremely strong,” Christie said.
The newspaper seemed to have clearance for an expedited visa for Silva’s wife Vivian, who would be flying to Germany on Monday morning.
The couple have two children, a six-year-old girl and five-year-old boy.
Earlier, the 44-year-old was taken to the main US military base in southern Kandahar for treatment.
‘Fearless but careful’
New York Times editor Bill Keller commented on the accident in an article on the paper’s website.
“Joao is the state-of-the-art war photographer, fearless but careful, with an amazing eye,” Keller said.
“We’re all waiting anxiously and praying for his quick recovery.”
Silva was embedded with a Times reporter with a unit of the 101st Airborne Division. US soldiers have been clearing Taliban insurgents from Arghandab and the surrounding area in recent weeks as part of a larger effort to secure the approaches to Kandahar, the Times said.
Silva has photographed wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Southern Africa, the Balkans and the Middle East and won many awards for his work. He is also the author with Greg Marinovich of The Bang-Bang Club, which chronicles four photographers in South Africa in the 1990s. The other two photographers were Kevin Carter and Ken Oosterbroek.
Homemade bombs and mines account for more casualties among American and Nato troops than any other means, the Times report said.
Silva was born on August 9 1966 in Lisbon, Portugal. He is based in Johannesburg. His images have won numerous awards, including the World Press Photo.
Silva said he first started taking pictures in 1989, and later began his career with the Alberton Record, a local SA newspaper.
He convinced his editors to let him cover the violence in Thokoza, and later started submitting photographs to Reuters.
He resigned from the newspaper to freelance full time. – Reuters, Sapa