ITN reporter dies after mystery fall from hotel roof

A second ITN reporter died in Iraq yesterday after apparently falling from a hotel roof in a Kurdish-controlled area on the eleventh day of the conflict.

Gabby Rado, 48, the foreign affairs correspondent for Channel 4 News, was found dead in the hotel's car park in Sulaymaniyah, northern Iraq.

Mr Rado, who had two children and was an award- winning war correspondent, is thought to have fallen from the roof of the Abu Sanaa at around 8.30am local time. Witnesses reported seeing him walking up to the hotel roof alone, according to local police, but little is known of what then happened.

Despite receiving first aid on the scene, Mr Rado was pronounced dead at the local hospital. An inquiry into the circumstances of his death has been opened by police in Sulaymaniyah.

During his 15-year career with Channel 4, Mr Rado, who was born in Hungary, had covered conflicts in Afghanistan, Bosnia and Kosovo, winning three Amnesty International awards.

His family, including his current wife, Desa, and his two children by his first wife, have been told of his death.

Terry Lloyd, a senior ITN correspondent, died when his vehicle was attacked, probably by US forces, in southern Iraq near Basra last Saturday.

Two other ITN journalists, Fred Nerac, a cameraman, and Hussein Osman, a driver and translator, who were part of Mr Lloyd's news team, are still missing.

Mr Rado had been reporting on the activities of the Kurdish fighters and coalition troops who had advanced to Kirkuk, 50 miles from Sulaymaniyah, where no fighting had been reported.

An ITN spokeswoman said: "It is very sad news indeed but his death was unrelated to the conflict. It is not a Terry Lloyd situation." ITN executives expressed their sense of shock and sadness.

Stewart Purvis, ITN editor-in-chief, commended Mr Rado's journalistic skills and said his death was a tragedy for his friends, family and colleagues across ITN. "We will make every effort to bring his body home while we also continue to recover from Basra the body of Terry Lloyd and search for the missing ITV news crew members."