A CHARITY is hoping to bring a tragic victim of the Chernobyl disaster to the UK for vital treatment.

The 15-year-old girl, Alaina, has been left devastated by a rare skin condition which leaves large parts of her body red raw.

But East Lancashire charity International Aid Trust is hoping to raise £1,000 so she can come to Britain for treatment.

Alaina has suffered from the crippling illness, Belmous Pemphigous, for more than 10 years since the Chernobyl nuclear tragedy.

Her body is constantly wrapped in cling film and the disease is untreatable in the Ukraine where she lives. Now the International Aid Trust, which is based in Withnell and provides humanitarian aid to former Eastern block countries, has made a public appeal to try and raise the £1,000 needed to transport Alaina to Lancashire for treatment.

When trust director Bernard Cocker returned from his last mercy trip in March, he showed her photograph to the charity's medical team which immediately wanted to do something.

The trust's medical co-ordinator Malcolm Myles went to Ukraine to see her and he has since been in contact with the Queen Victoria Hospital in Morecambe which he is confident will provide free treatment.

Mr Cocker said: "I have heard this week that her condition is deteriorating. We are going to put other work on the backburner so we can get her over for treatment.

"There is nothing they can do for her over there, but I am told she can be treated in this country."

The charity's mercy teams have visited 10 countries including Albania, Romania and Africa. One of its projects was to set up a clinic/hospice camp to help child victims of Chernobyl in a small village called Mayak, 20 miles from Odessa.

For more details of how to help contact the International Aid Trust, Lower Bank Forge, Bury Lane, Withnell, Chorley, PR6 8SE. Tel:01254 823333.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.