Phan Thị Kim Phuc, the girl featured in the iconic photo of a 1972 Vietnam War napalm attack, accompanied 236 Ukrainian war refugees on a flight from Warsaw to Canada on Monday.
The iconic photograph, in which Phuc runs with his burnt naked body with other children, was printed on the plane of a non-governmental organization that flies refugees to the city of Regina, capital of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. . The image was taken in June of that year by Associated Press photographer Nick Ut and won the Pulitzer Prize.
Kim, 59, a Canadian national, said he wanted his story and his work on behalf of refugees to be a message of peace. She traveled from Toronto with her husband, Bui Huy Toan, to board the humanitarian flight.
The refugees, mostly women and children from across Ukraine, are among thousands of Ukrainians granted humanitarian visas by Canada following the Russian invasion of their country. Millions of Ukrainians have fled since Russia launched the war on February 24. Nearly 5.5 million have registered with humanitarian organizations in Europe, according to the United Nations.
Canada is one of many Western countries that provide safe haven for Ukrainian refugees.
The founder of the non-governmental organization Solidaire, the Argentine philanthropist and pilot Enrique Pineyro, was the one who piloted the Boeing 787. Oscar Camps, of the Spanish organization Open Arms, was also on board.
“Devoted organizer. Incurable thinker. Explorer. Tv junkie. Travel buff. Troublemaker.”
