Lola Almudevar was travelling in a taxi in the early hours of Sunday as she made her way to Sucre to cover ongoing political unrest in the city.

The taxi collided with two trucks which had already crashed. Four others, including the lorry drivers, also died.

Ms Bolivia forum shifts to army base ... Almudevar, 29, joined the BBC in 2002 and had worked on docu-dramas and regional news before moving abroad.

The accident occurred at 0320 (0720 GMT) on Sunday on a motorway near the village of Ayo Ayo, about 87 km (54 miles) south of La Paz.

Reuters journalist injured

According to local reports two lorries had been involved in a collision on the motorway and had stopped on the road.

Ms Almudevar's taxi was travelling behind, and crashed head-on into the lorries just moments later.

Clotilde Fernandez, the wife of the taxi driver, and three men, including the two lorry drivers, were also killed in the crash.

Eduardo Garcia, a Spanish reporter working for Reuters who was travelling with Ms Almudevar, was seriously injured.

Three Bolivians were also hurt.

Ms Almudevar and Mr Garcia had been en route to the city of Sucre which has been the scene of deadly clashes following the approval of a new draft constitution by a special assembly there.

There are currently no flights to Sucre because of the unrest.

Awards

Ms Almudevar, from Nottingham, England, was the daughter of a Spanish father and British mother.

Her early career began in Brussels where she worked for the European Union.

In 1999 she won the Heinz-Schwarzkopf Foundation's Young European of the Year prize for her efforts in promoting understanding among young people from different cultures through her journalistic work, both as a professional and student.

She joined the BBC in the Midlands in 2002 and worked on local radio and TV programmes, including Midlands Today and Inside Out.

In 2006, Ms Almudevar and fellow BBC video journalist Brady Haran won an award for their co-production of Alexandra Road, a 10-part series following the lives of the residents of a road in Wolverhampton.

She took a sabbatical in 2006, travelling to Peru and Bolivia, where she began working six months ago, producing pieces on a wide range of issues, including Bolivia's abandoned children, attempts to legalise coca leaf sales abroad, and the challenges facing Bolivia's President Evo Morales.

Paying tribute to Ms Almudevar, the BBC said:

"Lola was only 29 years old and had been making a major impression on everyone who'd heard her lively and original journalism. She was building a great reputation and will be terribly missed by us all."

(BBC)

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