1972 'Napalm Girl' escorts Ukraine refugees to Canada

236 refugees, mostly women and children, are among thousands of Ukrainians provided with humanitarian visas

By AP

Published: Mon 4 Jul 2022, 9:36 PM

Phan Thị Kim Phuc, the girl in the famous 1972 Vietnam napalm attack photo, on Monday escorted 240 refugees from the war in Ukraine on a flight from Warsaw to Canada.

Phuc’s iconic Associated Press photo in which she runs with her napalm-scalded body exposed, was etched on on the private NGO plane that flew the refugees Monday to the city of Regina, the capital of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan.

Kim, 59, a Canadian citizen, said she want her story and work for refugees to be a message of peace. With her husband, Bui Huy Toan, she travelled from Toronto aboard the humanitarian flight.

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The 236 refugees, mostly women and children from across Ukraine, are among thousands of Ukrainians that Canada has provided humanitarian visas in the wake of Russia’s incursion of their country. Millions of Ukrainians have fled since Russia attacked on Feb. 24. Almost 5.5 million have registered with humanitarian organizations in Europe, according to the U.N.

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Canada is among many Western countries offering Ukrainian refugees safe haven.

The founder of the NGO Solidaire, philanthropist and pilot Enrique Pineyro, piloted the Boeing 787. Oscar Camps, from the Catalan NGO Open Arms was also aboard.

AP photographer Nick Ut took the Pulitzer Prize-awarded photo of Kim and other children fleeing a napalm attack in south Vietnam in June 1972