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CNN's Holliman Dead At 49

Cable News Network correspondent John Holliman died Saturday in a head-on collision in suburban Atlanta. Holliman was best known for his coverage of the Persian Gulf War in Baghdad.

Holliman and fellow CNN colleagues Peter Arnett and Bernard Shaw were the only three journalists in Iraq's capital city when United Nations forces began the Gulf War.

Arnett calls the death of the familiar face to CNN viewers "a real loss to the CNN family."

Holliman was driving near his Snellville, Ga., home when the accident occurred. He had tried to pass another car in a no-passing zone when he struck an on-coming pickup truck head-on. He died instantly.

Holliman joined CNN in 1980 as part of the broadcast team. He covered the student uprising in China's Tiananmen Square, as well as Hurricane Hugo in 1989, and was slated to co-anchor CNN's coverage of John Glenn's return to space along with Walter Cronkite.

According to Gwinnett County Police sergeant Jeff Sligar, there was no indication of alcohol use or of excessive speed by Holliman before his death.

©1998 CBS Worldwide Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report

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