Yannis Behrakis: Pulitzer-winning photographer dies

Yannis Behrakis, a Pulitzer-prize winning photojournalist for Reuters news agency, has died of cancer at the age of 58.

Born in Athens in 1960, Behrakis covered conflicts and natural disasters around the world in a career spanning more than thirty years.

His team’s coverage of the refugee crisis won the prestigious Pulitzer prize in 2016.

Here is a selection of some of his work.

Kurdish refugees fleeing near the Iraqi-Turkish border in April 1992Image copyright
Reuters

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Behrakis covered major events for decades, here capturing Kurdish refugees fleeing near the Iraqi-Turkish border in the 1990s

A US Marine orders Somalian man to the ground in Mogadishu, 1992Image copyright
Reuters

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Behrakis’s work took him around the world, including to Somalia during the US Operation Restore Hope in 1992

Ethnic Albanians mourn in Kosovo, 1999Image copyright
Reuters

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Conflict was an important part of his work, including coverage of the wars in the Balkans

Chechen rebels firing on Russian troops in Grozny in 1995Image copyright
Reuters

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He photographed Chechen rebels firing on Russian troops in Grozny in 1995

Government troops capture an 18-year-old rebel in Sierra Leone, 2000Image copyright
Reuters

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Here, Behrakis captured the moment government troops took an 18-year-old rebel in Freetown, Sierra Leone

Yannis Behrakis selfie taken in Sierra Leone 2000Image copyright
Reuters

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He took a self-portrait after surviving an ambush by rebels in Sierra Leone that year, in which two other journalists died

An Israeli soldier walking in fields near the Gaza Strip in 2008Image copyright
Reuters

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An Israeli soldier is caught on film here walking in fields near the Gaza Strip in 2008

US troops in Afghanistan 2010Image copyright
Reuters

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Behrakis covered the ongoing conflict in Afghanistan, photographing US troops here in 2010

Egyptian protesters in Cairo, 2011Image copyright
Reuters

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He also covered unrest and protests around the world, here taking pictures of demonstrators in Cairo in 2011

Demonstrators in Cairo's tahrir Square in 2011Image copyright
Reuters

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Behrakis captured a stand-off near Tahrir Square, where demonstrators gathered against the Egyptian government

Anti-austerity demonstrators in Greece 2011Image copyright
Reuters

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Closer to home, anti-austerity demonstrators took part in violent protests in Greece the same year

The Ukrainian synchronised swimming team during an Olympics qualification event in 2004Image copyright
Reuters

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His work also had a lighter tone, including photos of the Ukrainian synchronised swimming team during an Olympics qualification event in 2004

A family of Syrians off the Greek island of Lesbos, 2015Image copyright
Reuters

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But it was his team’s coverage of the refugee crisis, like this one of a Syrian family off the Greek island of Lesbos, that won them the Pulitzer prize

Yannis Behrakis in Normandy, France in 2016Image copyright
Reuters

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Behrakis is survived by his daughter Rebecca, son Dimitri and his wife Elisavet

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source: bbc.com