14:20 08Apr2003 RTRS-OBITUARY-Reuters man killed in Baghdad was veteran of war
LONDON, April 8 (Reuters) - Reuters journalist Taras Protsyuk, killed when a U.S. tank shell hit the Reuters office in a Baghdad hotel on Tuesday, grew up with his heart set on outer space. Instead he made his mark in the most hostile places on planet earth.
As a cameraman, editor and reporter he served with distinction in most of the major recent conflicts in Europe and central Asia, travelling to Bosnia, Chechnya, Kosovo, Macedonia, Pakistan and Afghanistan to gather fast, high-quality frontline coverage.
Taras was born in 1968 in the western Ukrainian city of Ivano Frankovsk, son of an oil company engineer. He graduated from high school hoping to join the Soviet Union's space programme, and enrolled at the Leningrad Military Academy to study aeronautical engineering.
But the fifth and final year of Taras' degree in 1990 coincided with the collapse of the Soviet Union, and with it much of the communist state's interest in space.
Rather than be drafted into the new Russian army, Taras quit his studies and began freelancing as a cameraman, a bold step for someone with only basic camera skills and no news experience.
But his charm and his ability to learn quickly soon saw him working regularly for major international broadcasters.
Taras joined Reuters in Kiev in 1993 and over the next decade blossomed in that most perilous of roles -- the combat journalist.
Roaming between front-line assignments, he quickly dispelled any doubts that it was possible for one person to research, shoot, edit and write scripts to the highest standards. In 1999 he moved to Warsaw with his wife and young son.
Speaking fluent Arabic learned in military school, Taras was an obvious choice to join the Reuters multi-media team assembled in Baghdad for the war on Iraq.
For the two months before his death he had been a vital cog in the team -- committed but not obsessed, brave but not reckless and unfailingly positive.
Always looking beyond the "bang-bang" story, Taras was also determined to reflect the human cost of the decade of sanctions on Iraq and of the conflict itself. Reuters coverage was all the richer for his efforts.
TRIBUTES
"I learnt with the deepest sorrow about Taras Protsyuk's tragic death. For me Taras's death is particularly bitter because I knew him personally and had an opportunity to work with him," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Anatoly Zlenko said in a message of condolence.
"He was an excellent reporter whose top priority was his work and who had never been scared by any dangers to his life. I am sending my deepest and most sincere condolences."
Reuters Editor-in-Chief Geert Linnebank said: "We are devastated by the death of Taras, who had distinguished himself with his highly professional coverage in some of the most violent conflicts of the past decade."
Distraught colleagues in the region remembered Taras as "full of life -- the most enthusiastic, inexhaustible friend."
For Sean Maguire, Reuters editor in eastern Europe currently with U.S. forces near Baghdad, Taras "epitomised the best of the people in Reuters -- cheerful, incredibly easy to deal with and extremely professional."
Friends and colleagues in Russia said he had remained a kind and gentle man despite the grim events he often witnessed.
"From the smile in his eyes, you would never have guessed what tragedies he had seen," recalled Irina Narodnitskaya of Reuters in Moscow.
"He was always pleasant, always smiling, always willing to help," said Warsaw-based Reuters photographer Peter Andrews, currently covering the war in central Iraq.
U.S. forces said one of their tanks had fired on the Palestine Hotel, home to most of the foreign media still in Baghdad, after coming under sniper and rocket fire. Journalists said they heard no such fire from the hotel.
Three other Reuters staff were injured in the blast. Samia Nakhoul, Lebanese-born Gulf bureau chief, and Iraqi photographer Faleh Kheiber were both treated in hospital for facial and head wounds and concussion.
Television cameraman and satellite dish coordinator Paul Pasquale, from Britain, was taken to hospital with leg, arm and head injuries but doctors said he was not in danger.
Taras is survived by his wife Lidia and eight-year-old son Denis.
((London World Desk +44 207 542 7917))
For Related News, Double Click on one of these codes (TEST):
[C] [D] [E] [M] [O] [T] [U] [MTL] [GRO] [SOF] [OIL] [G] [MD] [RNP] [DNP] [PGE] [EMK] [IQ] [PL] [UA] [VIO] [NEWS] [IE] [GB] [PUB] [EUROPE] [POL] [DIP] [US] [MEAST] [CRU] [LEN] [RTRS] [RTR.L]
For Relevant Price Information, Double Click on one of these codes (TEST):
Tuesday, 08 April 2003 14:20:36
RTRS [nL08545308] {EN}
ENDS