Anthony Shadid, a famous American journalist, died after having an asthma attack while fleeing to Turkey from Syria with the help of a group of smugglers on Friday. The dead body of the journalist was taken by his family after a final autopsy...

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The tragic death had occurred while the 45-year-old journalist who had been covering recent turmoil in Syria was heading to Turkey. The American journalist was collected by a group of smugglers in Syria, and the group headed to Turkey on ‘horseback’. While the journey continued, Mr Shadid had an asthma attack as he had allergy against horses. Tyler Hicks, a photojournalist of New York Times, carried the dead body of the Pulitzer awarded journalist for some 5 kilometres to bring him to Turkey. The journey eventually ended up at Cilvegözü Border Gate in Reyhanlı town of Hatay at about 2am on Friday.

The dead body of the American journalist was taken to Reyhanlı Public Hospital after an examination of a duty Public Prosecutor. It was determined in the Prosecutor’s preliminary report that Mr Shadid had died of due to shortness of breathing.

Mr Shadid’s family collected the dead body of their son on Saturday from Forensic Medicine Institution of Adana, where a general autopsy was carried out. The journalist’s body is expected to be transferred on Sunday to Lebanon, his home-country.

In the meantime, an investigation about the story of the American journalist’s death is being carried out by the Office of Public Prosecutor of Reyhanli.

(Rep-Cam: Murat KİBRİTOĞLU-Fatih KARAÇALI – ADANA / DHA)