Lola Almudevar (28 June 1978 – 25 November 2007) was a British journalist and news reporter. She reported for BBC News.[1]
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Almudevar was born in London, England on 28 June 1978, to a Spanish father and a British mother.[1] She grew up in Nottingham.[1] Almudevar graduated from the University of Leeds in 1999 with a degree in European Studies.[1] She wrote for the university newspaper, the Leeds Student, while attending the school.[1]
Almudevar moved to Brussels, Belgium, following her graduation, where she worked for the European Union.[1] She was subsequently awarded the Heinz-Schwarzkopf Foundation's Young European of the Year prize in 1999 for her work in promoting unity among diverse young people through her journalism.[1]
She was first hired by the BBC in 2002.[1] She initially worked for BBC Midlands. Almudevar also worked on radio and television programs while working at BBC Midlands, including Midlands Today and Inside Out.[1] She also created "docu-dramas" for the network before becoming an overseas reporter and correspondent for the BBC.[1]
According to BBC News, Almudevar won an award for her work on Alexandra Road, a ten part series that followed the lives of residents of a street in Wolverhampton, United Kingdom, which she co-produced with fellow BBC journalist, Brady Haran.[1]
She took a sabbatical leave from the BBC in 2006, when she travelled to several Latin American countries, including Bolivia, Colombia, Peru and Argentina.[1] She produced a number of news pieces while on sabbatical which focused on issues facing the region, including street children and a campaign to legalize the production of the coca leaf.[1]
Lola Almudevar was killed in a car accident near the Bolivian village of Ayo Ayo on 25 November 2007.[1] She was just 29 years old.[1]
Almudevar and other journalists had been traveling to the Bolivian city of Sucre to cover political unrest in the city due to the approval of a new regional draft constitution.[1] Flights had been suspended to Sucre so Almudevar had been forced to drive instead.[1]
Almudevar's taxi reportedly crashed head on into two stopped trucks which had been involved in an earlier accident.[1] Lola Almudevar was killed in the accident, along with two of the truck drivers, as well as Clotilde Fernandez, the wife of Almudevar's taxi driver.[1] Spanish Reuters reporter, Eduardo Garcia, who was traveling with Almudevar to Sucre, was also seriously injured in the accident.[1]