Bosnia Orphan Smuggled Out by Journalist

One of Britain’s best-known television reporters smuggled an orphan out of Bosnia-Herzegovina by writing her name into his passport.

Michael Nicholson, a reporter for Independent Television News, said Monday that his heart melted when 9-year-old Natasha Mihaljcic clung to his side while his crew filmed at an orphanage in the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo.

“I committed the newsman’s cardinal sin. I got involved with the story,” said Nicholson, 55, who is well-known in Britain for his coverage of the Persian Gulf War and the Falklands War.

Nicholson was told by relief workers that Natasha had been abandoned by her unmarried mother and lived like other orphans under threat of sniper fire, foraging for grass and nettles to eat. The workers asked him to help her escape, and he agreed.