Tiananmen square tank man photographer charlie cole dies in bali indonesia world news 20190913 p5xb2i.html – Breaking News & Latest Updates 2026
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This was published 6 years ago

Tiananmen Square Tank Man photographer Charlie Cole dies

Freya Noble

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This is a frame to the iconic photograph taken by Jeff Widener.

This is a similar frame to the iconic photograph taken by Jeff Widener. AP

An American photojournalist who captured the iconic image of Tank Man in Tiananmen Square has died.

Charlie Cole was one of the four snappers to immortalise the moment on film on June 5, 1989.

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It showed a man in a white shirt, holding plastic bags in both his hands, standing in front of three tanks as they rolled into the square on the day that hundreds, if not thousands of people died.

Last week Cole died in Bali, where he had been living for the past 15 years, the BBC reported.

He was 64.

His photograph won the 1990 World Press Photo award.

The iconic image was taken from the balcony of the Beijing Hotel. He knew he would be searched by Chinese security, so he hid the film roll in the bathroom.

A search by officials did not uncover it, and it was developed at the Associate Press bureau, according to the South China Morning Post.

Born in 1955 in Texas, Coles spent much of his career in Asia, including time in Japan and the Philippines.

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