Maria Golovnina : Reuters bureau chief found dead in Islamabad
Port-mortem delayed on request of husband
Maria Golovnina. PHOTO: FILE
ISLAMABAD:
Pakistan and Afghanistan bureau chief for Reuters, Maria Golovnina, was found dead at her office located in Sector F-8 in Islamabad on Monday, the police said.
While talking to The Express Tribune, duty officer Abdul Sattar said Golovnina was at work when she started feeling heavy-headed and fell on the floor. She went to the washroom and did not come out for a long time; people who were present in the office barged in and found her lying on the floor, he said.
Sattar said she was rushed to Kulsum International Hospital where she was pronounced dead. She was later taken to Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS).
Dr Ayesha Ishani, spokesperson for PIMS, said she was brought dead to hospital at between 3:30pm and 4pm, adding that the body was kept in the mortuary of the Mother and Child Health Centre.
She added that Golovnina’s husband had initially declined permission to PIMS administration to carry out a postmortem but later gave it.
However, when a team of doctors comprising medico-legal officers Dr Nasreen Butt and Dr Farrukh Kamal arrived, he requested to stop the autopsy, saying that he needs to seek permission of her parents first who are settled abroad, with whom he was trying to get in touch through the embassy. He requested the hospital administration to keep the body at the mortuary until formal permission is obtained.
Golovnina, 34, had been working with Reuters as the news agency’s bureau chief for Pakistan and Afghanistan for the past year-and-a-half.
“Maria was a superb journalist with a long and varied career at Reuters. A fluent Japanese and Russian speaker, she joined Reuters in Tokyo in 2001 and subsequently worked in postings around the world including London, Singapore, Moscow, Afghanistan and Iraq. In 2013, Maria became Bureau Chief for Afghanistan and Pakistan, and led her team through an impressive run of exclusives and insights. Her talents, energy and can-do spirit will be sorely missed,” said a statement released by Reuters’ on Golovnina’s death.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 24th, 2015.
Pakistan and Afghanistan bureau chief for Reuters, Maria Golovnina, was found dead at her office located in Sector F-8 in Islamabad on Monday, the police said.
While talking to The Express Tribune, duty officer Abdul Sattar said Golovnina was at work when she started feeling heavy-headed and fell on the floor. She went to the washroom and did not come out for a long time; people who were present in the office barged in and found her lying on the floor, he said.
Sattar said she was rushed to Kulsum International Hospital where she was pronounced dead. She was later taken to Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS).
Dr Ayesha Ishani, spokesperson for PIMS, said she was brought dead to hospital at between 3:30pm and 4pm, adding that the body was kept in the mortuary of the Mother and Child Health Centre.
She added that Golovnina’s husband had initially declined permission to PIMS administration to carry out a postmortem but later gave it.
However, when a team of doctors comprising medico-legal officers Dr Nasreen Butt and Dr Farrukh Kamal arrived, he requested to stop the autopsy, saying that he needs to seek permission of her parents first who are settled abroad, with whom he was trying to get in touch through the embassy. He requested the hospital administration to keep the body at the mortuary until formal permission is obtained.
Golovnina, 34, had been working with Reuters as the news agency’s bureau chief for Pakistan and Afghanistan for the past year-and-a-half.
“Maria was a superb journalist with a long and varied career at Reuters. A fluent Japanese and Russian speaker, she joined Reuters in Tokyo in 2001 and subsequently worked in postings around the world including London, Singapore, Moscow, Afghanistan and Iraq. In 2013, Maria became Bureau Chief for Afghanistan and Pakistan, and led her team through an impressive run of exclusives and insights. Her talents, energy and can-do spirit will be sorely missed,” said a statement released by Reuters’ on Golovnina’s death.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 24th, 2015.