AMSTERDAM: A photograph of a heavily pregnant woman as she was being rescued from a destroyed maternity hospital in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol has won the renowned international World Press Photo competition, reported German news agency (dpa).

The Ukrainian photographer Evgeniy Maloletka was awarded first prize for the picture, the jury announced in Amsterdam on Thursday.

The photo, taken on March 9, 2022 for the AP news agency, shocked people all over the world.

It shows an injured, heavily pregnant woman being carried out of a bombed maternity hospital on a stretcher. The woman and her child died a short time later.

This photograph captured the human suffering caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, said jury chairman Brent Lewis.

"The deaths of both the pregnant woman and child encapsulate both much of this war and Russia's possible intent," he said.

"As one member of the jury said, 'It's like they're trying to kill the future of Ukraine'."

According to the jury, this year's winners of the competition represent the most important issues of 2022. The winners were selected from around 60,000 photos in several categories.

The prize for the best photo story of the year went to Mads Nissen from Denmark for a series on the difficult living conditions of many Afghans under the Taliban.

The Armenian Anush Babajanyan was awarded for a series on the water crisis in Central Asia, which is worsened by climate change. Egyptian Mohamed Mahdy won a prize for a documentary project on a fishing village in Alexandria.

More than 3,700 photographers from 127 countries entered the competition. First, regional juries selected winning photos for their respective regions in several categories.

All winning photos will be shown in an exhibition in more than 60 cities worldwide, the first of which will open in Amsterdam on Saturday.

-- BERNAMA