UK: Appeals launched to help injured Iraqi boy

Appeals have been launched in response to public demand to help an Iraqi boy who lost both arms in a missile blast.

Newspapers and a charity reported hundreds of emotional messages from the public after a picture of Ali Ismail Abbas was published.

The 12-year-old lost both arms and was badly burned when a missile destroyed his family's shack, killing his parents and eight relatives. He is being treated in north Baghdad's al-Kindi hospital, which is under severe pressure from casualties and only has access to rudimentary medicines.

Doctors believe that time could be running out for the youngster, whose burns are so severe that he risks septicaemia unless he is taken to a hospital with advanced intensive care facilities.

The Daily Mirror said e-mails, letters and phone calls had flooded into its offices from people stunned by the sight of the distraught boy. The newspaper launched an appeal today in aid of Unicef, to fund children in Ali's hospital and other children in the war.

The newspaper said: "The Limbless Association has set up Ali's Fund for the Limbless of Iraq, dedicated to trying to save the orphan, ideally by flying him to Britain, but any extra money will be directed to helping other children in Iraq in a similar predicament."

A spokeswoman for the Limbless Association - based at Queen Mary's Hospital, Roehampton, south west London, told The Times: "There is a chance that Ali might not make it, which is why we're naming it in his honour - we hope that other Iraqi children can be saved because of him."

Association chief executive, Diana Morgan, said: "We are trying to get word to Ali because I think that psychologically it might help if he knows that people love and care for him worldwide." Doctors has also agreed to donate their time free for any children brought from Iraq.

RSL Steeper, the UK supplier of prosthetics, has agreed to give equipment at half price. David Hills, clinic manager for the Dorset Orthopaedic Company, based in Ringwood, Hants, has reportedly offered two artificial arms to Ali at cost price - less than half the standard fee.

Cheques or postal orders for The Daily Mirror appeal should be made payable to The Ali Appeal c/o Daily Mirror PO Box 6867 London E14 5AN. Donations can be made using Visa, Mastercard or Switch by calling 0870 902 3185. The Limbless Association can be contacted on 020 8788 1777 or www.limbless-association.org.

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Young victim to be airlifted

Apr 15 2003, by Bill Peters, The Evening Chronicle

The Iraqi boy who lost both arms and suffered 60 per cent burns in a bomb attack on his home is to be airlifted out of a Baghdad hospital to save his life, it emerged today.

Twelve-year-old Ali Ismaeel Abbas could die without getting specialist treatment, according to doctors in the capital.

He will be flown to Kuwait either today or early tomorrow, according to a US marine in Iraq.

Staff Sergeant John Jamison said: "We have been trying to get him out of here and it looks like that's going to happen."

Sgt Jamison said Kuwait's Ministry of Health has agreed to look after Ali and his uncle - his only living male relative after the boy's parents and the rest of his family were killed in Baghdad.

"I'm not sure where he will be flown out from. We are still working on that," Sgt Jamison added.

Ali is currently in Saddam City Hospital in Baghdad.

Medical staff made a direct appeal to British Prime Minister Tony Blair and US President George Bush to get Ali proper treatment by flying him out of the dilapidated hospital that is short of drugs, equipment and doctors.

Pictures of Ali in his hospital bed were transmitted around the world.

His plight has brought thousands of pounds flooding into newspaper appeals in the UK, while British amputees have launched the Ali Fund, a joint venture by the Limbless Association and Tory politician Caroline Spelman. Payment for Ali's treatment has also been pledged by the Maharani of Jaipur.

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