Skip to content. A South Vietnamese plane accidentally dropped its flaming napalm on South Vietnamese troops and civilians. The terrified girl had ripped off her burning clothes while fleeing. Behind them are soldiers of the Vietnam Army 25th Division. Her picture was one of the most iconic images of the Vietnam War: a girl running naked down a road, screaming in pain after a napalm attack. She was only 9 years old when that photograph was taken by The Associated Press photographer Nick Ut, for which he won a Pulitzer Prize.
40 years since Saigon's fall, napalm attack haunts woman in iconic image
Phan Thi Kim Phuc - Wikipedia
Ajax, Ontario, Canada CNN Even without the benefit of context, the image of a naked 9-year-old girl running for her life is as searing and indelible today as it was 43 years ago. Chat with us in Facebook Messenger. Find out what's happening in the world as it unfolds. More Videos Girl in iconic Vietnam photo still carries scars
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It won 37 percent of the votes. The U. It is estimated that 60 percent of the Vietnamese people hit by napalm suffered fifth-degree burns, meaning the burn went down to the bone.
The well-known photo, by AP photographer Nick Ut , shows her at nine years of age running naked on a road after being severely burned on her back by a South Vietnamese napalm attack. The New York Times editors were at first hesitant to consider the photo for publication because of the nudity, but eventually approved it. A cropped version of the photo—with the press photographers to the right removed—was featured on the front page of The New York Times the next day. A number of the early operations were performed by Finnish plastic surgeon Aarne Rintala.