David Bloom, US journalist embedded with US troops, dies near Baghdad

WASHINGTON (AFP) Apr 06, 2003
US television journalist David Bloom, 39, who was traveling with US troops died, apparently of natural causes, near Baghdad Sunday, according to the NBC network where where he worked.

Bloom, the second US journalist to die since the beginning of the war in Iraq, apparently died of a pulmonary embolism -- which is usually a blood clot that hits an artery of the lung.

He had been reporting live on the progress of the Third Infantry Division.

For the past three years, Bloom has also worked as co-host the weekend version of the NBC Today Show program, one of the most popular morning news programs in this country.

Bloom is the sixth journalist to die while covering the war in Iraq.

"Over the past few weeks, we marveled as he demonstrated a tireless devotion to this story. At this incredibly difficult time, our thoughts and prayers are with Davids family and all of our brave colleagues who remain overseas," NBC News President Neal Shapiro said.

Bloom began working for NBC in 1993 in Chicago, and became a White House correspondent in 1997.

Bloom is survived by his wife, Melanie, and three daughters, 9-year-old twins Nicole and Christine, and three-year-old Ava.

SPACE.WIRE