Napalm Girl has final surgery, 50 years on

HALF a century after suffering horrific burns, Vietnam’s Napalm Girl has had a final skin graft and declared herself “a survivor”.

The famous photograph of Kim Phuc Phan Thi running in agony, severely burned and naked, from US incendiary bombs was used on newspaper front pages all over the world.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning picture by photographer Nick Ut overnight became a defining image of the Vietnam war.

Kim, 59, said: “I’m no longer a victim of war...I’m a friend, I’m a helper. I’m a grandmother and now

I’m a survivor calling out for peace.”

Her final operation was done without charge by Miami doctor Jill

Waibel, and Kim – who moved to Canada 30 years ago – said she does not need more treatment. Nick, 71, saved her life in 1972 near her home in Trang Bang by insisting medics treat her when they said she would die. They remain friends.

Horror...Kim, nine, runs from the napalm bombing in South Vietnam in 1972

Last operation...medics perform the final laser surgery on Kim’s scar tissue

All done...Kim, above with her Miami surgeon Dr Jill Waibel, and left