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The war continues... People run following a reported government air strike on the rebel-controlled town of Hamouria, Syria.: image via Aurelia BAILLY @AureliaBAILLY, 4 April 2017
A Syrian man runs for cover following a reported government air strike on the rebel-controlled town of Hamouria. #AFP: image via Aurelia BAILLY @AureliaBAILLY, 4 April 2017
Death toll in Syria 'gas attack' rises to 58 in the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhun #AFP @AbdDoumany: image via Aurelia BAILLY @AureliaBAILLY, 4 April 2017
A young victim of a suspected chemical attack in the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhun, Syria, is treated at a small hospital in Maaretal-Numan: photo by Omar Haj Kadour/AFP, 4 April 2017
'The first thing that hits you is the smell': Omar Haj Kadour and Mohamed Al-Bakour, AFP, 4 April 2017
Khan Sheikhun -- When news came that there had been a suspected chemical attack in a rebel-held northwestern town of Khan Sheikhun in Syria, AFP photographers Omar Haj Kadour and Mohamed Al-Bakour rushed to the hospitals in the area. Here is what they found.
Mohamed: When I get to the hospital, a foul smell hangs over the place. I can’t quite put my finger on it. Children are lying on beds and medics are frantically trying to save them. It’s a small hospital in Maaret al-Numan, where I live, about 15 kilometers from Khan Sheikhun where the attack took place. They are putting oxygen masks on the children. It’s mayhem -- the children crying, the medics barking orders. I decide to focus on the children. To convey just how horrendous this crime is.
Syrian children receive treatment at a small hospital in the town of Maaret al-Noman following a suspected toxic gas attack in Khan Sheikhun, a nearby rebel-held town in Syria'’s northwestern Idlib province, on April 4, 2017.: photo by Mohamed Al-Bakour/AFP, 4 April 2017
Omar: I am in the town of Binnish, about 75 kilometers away when I hear about the attack. I hear that it may have been a chemical attack. When I get to the main hospital in Khan Sheikhun, the first thing that strikes me is the smell.
There is a strange smell. I can’t put my finger on it.
There is a strange smell. I can’t put my finger on it.
The first thing I see when I come in is a man with a girl. The medics are trying to treat her. But they can’t, because she is dead.
Syrian children receive treatment at a small hospital in the town of Maaret al-Noman following a suspected toxic gas attack in Khan Sheikhun, a nearby rebel-held town in Syria'’s northwestern Idlib province, on April 4, 2017.: photo by Omar Haj Kadour/AFP, 4 April 2017
photo by Omar Haj Kadour/AFP, 4 April 2017
I take pictures of her face, of the details around her. Her father is devastated. He is sobbing. I keep taking pictures.
photo by Omar Haj Kadour/AFP, 4 April 2017
Mohamed: I take pictures of the children in front of me. They are dying and they are shivering -- from fear, from the lack of oxygen, from the effects of the chemicals. I feel helpless. There is nothing that I can do for them. This is a secondary hospital, it’s not equipped to deal with the really serious cases. The really serious cases are given first aid and taken to the main one in Khan Sheikhun, which has the equipment to deal with them.
I have an older brother, who has a two-year-old boy. What if it were him on the table in front of me? I tell myself to stop thinking such things. If I start thinking such things, I won’t be able to do my job. And my job is to take pictures. To cover this attack. To show this horrendous crime to the world.
photo by Mohamed Al-Bakour/AFP, 4 April 2017
Omar: I photograph a woman’s body outside the hospital. I see her face. Seems obvious to me that this is a chemical attack. I remember the last attack that I photographed. It looks the same. The foam around her mouth.
Bodies lie in the parking area of a hospital in Khan Sheikhun, a rebel-held town in the northwestern Syrian Idlib province, following a suspected toxic gas attack on April 4, 2017.: photo by Omar Haj Kadour/AFP, 4 April 2017
I think most about the children. I think about my nephews, my sister’s kids. They are the only family that I have left in Binnish, where I live. My sister fears for her boys and for her newborn girl. What if God forbid it was them here.
I am taking pictures when I hear a blast. Debris comes crashing down at the entrance of the hospital, where medics are dousing the arriving patients to wash away chemical residue. We all rush to get out of the rubble. Luckily we all make it out alive.
'The first thing that hits you is the smell' - covering suspect #chemical attack in #syria Photo Mohamed Al-Bakour @AFPblogs: image via Aurelia BAILLY @AureliaBAILLY, 4 April 2017
'Beyond evil'
'Beyond evil' - Strong portrait of @KaramAlmasri25 in today's @libe: image via Stephane Arnaud @StephaneArnaud, 4 April 2017
Saint Petersburg metro closes all stations after blast #AFP photo taken today at Technological Institute metro station in Saint Petersburg.: image via Aurelia BAILLY @AureliaBAILLY, 3 April 2017
Russia confirms suicide bomber suspected in metro attack #AFP Flowers inside the Technological Institute metro station in Saint Petersburg.: image via Aurelia BAILLY @AureliaBAILLY, 4 April 2017
President Donald Trump listens to a question during a town hall with business leaders in the South Court Auditorium on the White House complex in Washington, Tuesday, April 4, 2017.: photo by Evan Vucci/AP, 4 April 2017
President Trump re attack in St. Petersburg: “Terrible. Terrible thing. Happening all over the world. Absolutely a terrible thing." #Sisi: image via Stephen Crowley @Stcrow, 3 April 2017
Chief Economic Adviser Gary Cohn listens as @mike_pence delivers remarks to CEOs during town hall meeting re U.S. business climate.: image via Stephen Crowley @Stcrow, 4 April 2017
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[Untitled]: photo by Gustavo Gomes, 15 June 2016
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[Untitled]: photo by Gustavo Gomes, 15 June 2016
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[Untitled]: photo by Gustavo Gomes, 15 June 2016
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[Untitled]: photo by hajdu tamas, 11 March 2017
[Untitled]: photo by Gustavo Gomes, 15 June 2016
[Untitled]: photo by Gustavo Gomes, 15 June 2016
[Untitled]: photo by Gustavo Gomes, 15 June 2016
[Untitled]: photo by hajdu tamas, 11 March 2017
Iraqis walk past a damaged building as they leave Mosul's Old City. Photo @gharabli_ahmad: image via Aurelia BAILLY @AureliaBAILLY, 4 April 2017
Clashes as Venezuelans protest in political crisis #AFP #Caracas today. Photo @jbarreto1974: image via Aurelia BAILLY @AureliaBAILLY, 4 April 2017
More than 270 dead in Colombia mudslides # AFP Photo taken in Mocoa by @LuisRobayo #ColombiaMudSlide: image via Aurelia BAILLY @AureliaBAILLY, 4 April 2017
'The first thing that hits...'
The minute you start to think you're there you're not. The first thing that hits breaks the most stuff. The person goes to pieces, can't get its breath, now it's something else, then another strike comes in, now it has no name, can't hear the complaints that rise all round it. Another night the same. Once impossibly large, it has shrunken, receded, passed out of extension.
Then another strike comes in, and it's not there.
Missing Persons (I'm not there)
#07 Family [Bangkok]: photo by ISSARET CHALERMSOPONE, 15 May 2015
#07 Family [Bangkok]: photo by ISSARET CHALERMSOPONE, 15 May 2015
#07 Family [Bangkok]: photo by ISSARET CHALERMSOPONE, 15 May 2015
Hanging Passenger [Dhaka]: photo by Kazi Mushfiq, 11 January 2015
Hanging Passenger [Dhaka]: photo by Kazi Mushfiq, 11 January 2015
Hanging Passenger [Dhaka]: photo by Kazi Mushfiq, 11 January 2015
nt: photo by Riccardo Cattaneo, 2 July 2015
[Untitled]: photo by Md. Enamul Kabir, 12 February 2017
[Untitled]: photo by Md. Enamul Kabir, 12 February 2017
[Untitled]: photo by Md. Enamul Kabir, 12 February 2017
B-Side [Songkhla, Thailand]: photo by Sakulchai Sikitikul, 22 August 2015
B-Side [Songkhla, Thailand]: photo by Sakulchai Sikitikul, 22 August 2015
B-Side [Songkhla, Thailand]: photo by Sakulchai Sikitikul, 22 August 2015
[Untitled]: photo by Soumyendra Saha, 14 August 2014
Dhaka, Bangladesh: photo by Md. Enamul Kabir, 12 February 2017
Dhaka, Bangladesh: photo by Md. Enamul Kabir, 12 February 2017
Dhaka, Bangladesh: photo by Md. Enamul Kabir, 12 February 2017