Boy who survived Sudanese air disaster arrives in Britain for treatment

A Sudanese boy who survived an airline crash that killed the other 116 on board is having tests at Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital.

Two-year-old Mohammed al-Fateh Osman arrived at the hospital yesterday accompanied by his father, uncle and aunt. He was flown to London from Sudan by air ambulance to receive treatment for his multiple injuries.

The Foreign Office named the only British victim of the crash. He was Nick Meadows, an Oxfam aid worker aged 50.

Mohammed arrived at the children's hospital awake and in a stable condition after losing some of the lower part of his right leg and suffering 15 per cent burns in Tuesday's crash.

The boy, whose mother was killed when the Boeing 737 went down soon after taking off from Port Sudan airport, is having tests in the hospital.

Doctors do not expect to operate on Mohammed until a full assessment of his wounds is completed on Monday. A Great Ormond Street spokesman said the boy was under the care of an orthopaedic surgeon and was expected to be examined by a burns specialist.

He said: "We can confirm that Mohammed was admitted to Great Ormond Street Hospital early this afternoon for assessment of multiple injuries.

"Mohammed is conscious and stable. He is undergoing tests and investigations to determine treatment.."

Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al- Nahyan, President of the United Arab Emirates, is funding the treatment, after hearing of his extraordinary escape from the crash. Mohammed was reportedly found crying and lying on a fallen tree by a nomad after the crash. His discovery among the charred remains of the other passengers was described as a miracle by Mohammed Hassan al-Bahi, Sudan's Aviation Minister.

He said: "If you were to see the state of the bodies, and the death of those people, you would know it was a miracle dictated by God that this child has come out alive." The Sudanese authorities are still investigating the cause of the crash, which is thought to have been caused by mechanical problems. The pilot of the aircraft, which was travelling to Khartoum on an internal flight, reported technical problems with one of the engines ten minutes before it crashed.

British officials in Khartoum provided visas for the boy and his relatives on Thursday to allow them to travel to London for urgent treatment.

Mr Meadows had been in Sudan to co-ordinate an emergency relief operation. A spokesman for Oxfam said his colleagues were shocked by the news and sent their condolences to his family.

The aid worker, from the North of England, was based in the US and was single.