Syria: Marie Colvin was killed by rocket as she ran to retrieve her shoes

Marie Colvin, the Sunday Times war correspondent who was killed in Syria, died trying to retrieve her shoes so she could escape an army bombardment, her newspaper has reported.

Details of her last hours emerged as efforts went on to rescue journalists wounded alongside her in the besieged Baba Amr district of Homs.

The journalists had followed the Middle Eastern custom of taking off their shoes when they went into a building housing a rebel press centre, and tried to recover them as rockets fell.

Ms Colvin, 56, pictured, was on the ground floor on Wednesday morning when missiles hit the upper floors. The journalists – Paul Conroy, a photographer, three French nationals and a Spaniard – were covered in dust but unhurt.

They prepared to flee, but had to get their shoes first.

Ms Colvin ran to the hall, where she had left hers, but a rocket landed at the front of the building, a few yards away.

The blast killed her and Rémi Ochlik, a French photojournalist. Mr Conroy was hit by shrapnel in the leg and stomach; and Edith Bouvier, a French journalist, suffered leg fractures.