Britain, Sweden to Airlift More Sarajevo Children

Prime Minister John Major on Wednesday ordered the evacuation of 41 more wounded children from Sarajevo--as doctors reported 5-year-old Irma Hadzimuratovic, whose suffering has captured world attention, to be gravely ill in a London hospital.

The prime minister’s office said the emergency airlift of the young war victims was the first phase of an initiative by Major and Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt in response to an appeal by the U.N. high commissioner for refugees.

Major, who is visiting Sweden, and Bildt declared: “There are obviously many other acute cases who need immediate assistance. Sweden and the United Kingdom may also take on additional critical cases. But it is important that other nations should also play their part by providing assistance.”

Of the 41 injured children to be removed in the next 48 hours, Major said, 20 will come to Britain, 16 will go to Sweden and five to Ireland. Another 400 less seriously wounded children in Sarajevo are being screened for possible transfer out of the war-torn capital of Bosnia-Herzegovina. The emergency evacuation was being unofficially dubbed “Operation Irma.”

But as thousands of messages, letters and gifts for Irma, including teddy bears and flowers, flooded London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital, doctors there said the child’s condition had worsened overnight. She was evacuated from Sarajevo by a British military flight Monday; doctors operated on her Tuesday to remove mortar shrapnel from near her spine.

“She is still unconscious on a ventilator and continuing to receive drugs to support her heart,” said Dr. Quen Mok.

Irma is suffering from shrapnel wounds to her head, spine and abdomen and has meningitis, or infection of the brain membranes.

Her dramatic flight from the embattled Bosnian capital captured front-page headlines and topped television news programs.

Irma’s father, Ramiz, who accompanied her from Sarajevo, went on television to urge the world to save Sarajevo, declaring: “If (the war) is not stopped, the killing will be more and more. More children like my daughter Irma will be. . . .” He could not add the word “killed.”

Hadzimuratovic’s wife, Elvira, 30, was killed in the shelling that injured their daughter.