Pulitzer-winning photojournalist Yannis Behrakis dead at 58

In this photo taken on Monday, Oct. 10, 2016, Greek photojournalist Yannis Behrakis looks on during a visit at Normandy, France. Yannis Behrakis, a Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist, has died. He was 58. His death Saturday, March 2, 2019 was confirmed by his employers, Reuters, where he had worked since 1987. Behrakis had long been ill with cancer. (AP Photo/Enric Marti)

In this photo taken on Friday, Feb. 25, 2011, Greek photojournalist Yannis Behrakis works at a refugee camp set up by the Tunisian army, at the Tunisia-Libyan border, in Ras Ajdir, Tunisia. Yannis Behrakis, a Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist, has died. He was 58. His death Saturday, March 2, 2019 was confirmed by his employers, Reuters, where he had worked since 1987. Behrakis had long been ill with cancer. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)

Yannis Behrakis, a Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist, has died. He was 58.

His death Saturday was confirmed by his employers, Reuters, where he had worked since 1987. Behrakis had long been ill with cancer.

Born in Athens in 1960, Behrakis studied photography at a private school and worked at a studio before fulfilling his lifelong dream to become a photojournalist. Since early 1989, he had been on assignments across Europe, the Mideast Asia and Africa, often in conflict zones.

In 2000, he was ambushed in Sierra Leone, likely by rebels, and barely escaped along with Reuters' co-worker Mark Chisholm. Their Reuters colleague Kurt Schork, Behrakis' close friend, and AP cameraman Miguel Gil Moreno were killed.

Behrakis led a team of Reuters photographers to the 2016 Pulitzer Prize, covering the refugee crisis.