The bureau chief of famous international news agency Reuters for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Maria Golovnina died in Islamabad on February 23, 2015. Maria Golovnina was widely loved and admired due to her braveness and dedicated personality. Maria was found unconscious and in a very serious condition in the bureau office of Reuters and was taken to the Kulsum international hospital Islamabad, but the doctors were unable to save her life and pronounced dead by the doctors.
Maria Golovnina was 34 years old and had joined the London based international news agency, Reuters in 2001 in Tokyo, Japan. She was a fluent Japanese speaker and recognized as a brave and admired lady. Her remarkable career took her to the Singapore, United Kingdom, Iraq and Afghanistan as a part of Graduate Trainee Program. Maria Golovnina was appointed as a Bureau Chief for Pakistan and Afghanistan two years ago.
Maria Golovnina was the daughter of Russian expatriates lived in Japan and write in English as a third language. She speaks her mother tongue Russian language fluently and also a good speaker of Japanese language. Maria was posted in Russia from 2002 to 2005 and she had covered the early years of Putin’s presidency from there.
In 2005, Maria Golovnina became Chief Correspondent of Central Asia and had reported on crackdown on Uzbekistan’s opposition protests, instability in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan’s revolution. Then she was sent to Afghanistan to cover the presidential elections in 2009 and then she went to Iraq for an assignment.
The management of Reuters called Maria to work in the London Editing Desk in 2010 where fellow editor found her committed and friendly nature lady and her commitment admired most of the team members. She spent much of 2011 covering the war in Libya and doesn’t hesitate to travel Tripoli despite the risk.
Maria then became UK chief correspondent and having lived on the road for so long. One of her team mate declared her “Tsunami”, due to her eager to work in the life threatened environment bravely with no fear in her eyes. She was sent to Pakistan as a bureau chief of Pakistan and Afghanistan. No one knows that it will be her final assignment and she would be only recalled in the memories.
“All of us at Reuters mourn the untimely death of our beloved colleague Maria. She was one of our finest journalists, combining fearlessness with an upbeat enthusiasm that inspired confidence, respect and affection from everyone around her. She will be deeply missed”, Editor In Chief of the Reuters News, Stephen Adler words on the death of Maria Golovnina.