Iraqi War

[Haytorontonian]

Red Cross worker missing in Baghdad

 

CTV.ca News Staff

 

A Canadian working for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is missing in Baghdad and is believed to have been seriously injured after a vehicle he was travelling in came under fire.

 

Vatche Arslanian, 48, has been missing since Tuesday. Reports today say he was travelling with two other Red Cross staffers, who managed to escape.

 

Nada Doumani, an ICRC spokesperson, told CTV's Canada AM on Wednesday that they have been unable to go to the area where Arslanian was last seen because of "ongoing fighting."

 

"At present we have no news of his whereabouts or his condition," she told Canada AM host Lisa LaFlamme from Geneva.

 

Arslanian is a former mayor of Oromocto, New Brunswick. He is also a former captain in the Canadian Forces.

 

He is in charge of logistics for the Red Cross in Iraq.

 

It's unclear whether the vehicle he was travelling in, which was clearly marked with the ICRC's distinctive Red Cross, had been caught in cross fire or had come under direct attack.

 

"The ICRC is deeply distressed by its inability to rescue its staff member and by its temporary inability to pursue its emergency assistance to those in need," the Geneva-based agency said in a statement.

 

The Red Cross is the only aid agency working in Iraq in the moment, with six staffers in Baghdad, four in Basra and four in the north.

 

On Wednesday, it said it had temporarily suspended its humanitarian operations in Baghdad because the situation in the city was chaotic.

 

There is much looting and celebrating going on in the streets amid reports that the Iraqi regime has collapsed.

 

With reports from The Associated Press

[Haytorontonian]

Unfortunately, I found out the following:

 

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/stor...b=SpecialEvent3

[River]

What a shame that such a person should die. But he was there helping people in great need. May his soul rest in peace.

[MJ]

http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/SPECIALS/2003/iraq/heroes/vatch-georgia.jpg

 

Vatche Arslanian pictured with an unidentified woman during his 15-month mission in the Republic of Georgia in 2000.

 

NAME: Vatche Arslanian

 

 

AGE: 48

 

 

AFFILIATION: International Committee of the Red Cross

 

 

HOMETOWN: Oromocto, New Brunswick

 

 

FAMILY: Mother, Chake, and sisters, Talin and Sylvie

 

 

DETAILS: Despite the risks, this Red Cross worker stayed in Baghdad to aid the needy. He was killed when he got caught in the crossfire.

 

 

Slain Red Cross worker helped Iraqis make it through

'He would always go the extra step'

By Jeordan Legon

CNN

(CNN) -- After a long day at the office moving boxes and securing the arrival of humanitarian supplies, Red Cross logistics coordinator Vatche Arslanian had just one more thing to do. Give a ride home to an employee who lived on the other side of Baghdad.

It was a final act of kindness for the husky Canadian with the hearty laugh who dedicated much of his life to helping people in need.

Arslanian, 48, died April 8 when his car was caught in the crossfire between coalition and Iraqi troops. His employee was shot, but was able to run away. A day later, when the battle ended, Arslanian's body was recovered, still clothed in his white Canadian Red Cross T-shirt, officials said.

"He would always go the extra step," Suzanne Charest, a Canadian Red Cross colleague who often spoke to Arslanian by phone.

"He really prided himself on the work of the Red Cross and he knew it was making a difference in a really horrific war. If he hadn't been there ... thousands of Iraqis would not have had access to water or medical supplies."

Arslanian, who had been in Baghdad since July 2001, was given the option of leaving the city at the start of the war. He stayed.

Too much needed to be done. His staff of 40 Red Cross workers depended on him. He had 65 vehicles, 55 generators and five warehouses to oversee.

In the first weeks of the war, his knowledge of Arabic and perseverance ensured food, water and medical supplies continued reaching war-weary Iraqis, Charest said.

"The work is rewarding, because helping to bring a smile and dignity to a fellow human being is deeply fulfilling," Arslanian told a Red Cross colleague who interviewed him shortly before his death.

Arslanian, who was born in Syria and moved to Canada in 1975, loved to help others, colleagues said. He worked as a taxi driver, dishwasher, security guard and hotel banquet organizer, but no matter what he did, he always found time to volunteer.

He served as deputy mayor of his Canadian hometown of Oromocto, New Brunswick, and began volunteering with the Red Cross in 1991.

Whether it was moving refugees from Kosovo to Canada or helping feed the hungry in the Republic of Georgia, he enjoyed opening the way for humanitarian relief to arrive.

His co-workers say the quiet, detail-oriented man was unstoppable -- keeping a toy bulldozer on his desk as a reminder of his mission.

"He really was a bulldozer," Charest said. "He made things happen."

 

http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2003/iraq/hero.../red.cross.html