The death of two journalists in a helicopter crash in Nepal has taken the news media death toll for 2006 beyond the 100 mark, according to the International News Safety Institute.
The crash, in which Nepal NTV correspondent Hem Bhandari and cameraman Sunil Singh were killed, is the latest incident in which journalists have lost their lives this year.
INSI director Rodney Pinder said: “The rising death toll suffered by people covering the news is a stain on free societies everywhere.”
According to INSI, most of the victims in the past nine months were murdered because of their work.
Seventy-nine were shot, stabbed, bombed or beaten to death, 13 died in accidents and 10 in crossfire.
After Iraq, the deadliest countries for news journalists were Sri Lanka, Guyana, Philippines, India, Brazil and Argentina.
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