The celebratory mood that spread across Libya at news of Muammar Gaddafi’s death escaped the family of a girl who was horribly injured two weeks ago. Ariadne Massa accompanied the Maltese medical team to Tripoli on a turnaround trip to bring her to Mater Dei Hospital for treatment.

Ritag, 8, lay on a stretcher, her tiny body buried beneath intravenous tubes and oxygen pipes as she waited to be transferred from an ambulance to an aircraft parked on the runway of Tripoli airport.

I cannot think of her future at the moment

Communicating in a mixture of English, Arabic and Maltese, the Libyan medics hand the young girl over to the team from Mater Dei Hospital, explaining her condition and looking on with the lingering hope that she can receive better care in Malta.

Two weeks ago, Ritag was playing with her siblings in the hallway of their home in Sabha, southwest of Tripoli, when a rocket propelled grenade smashed through the roof and the blast sliced off her abdominal wall.

As he waited on the runway, her father, Idris Habib, 44, told The Sunday Times, through a translator, how the incident happened on October 10. Luckily, none of his other children were injured, but Ritag had to be rushed to hospital fighting for her life.

The rebel fighters’ victory and death of Libyan Muammar Gaddafi came two weeks too late for Ritag and the celebratory mood that spread across the city after eight months of bloody civil war escaped her father.

Mr Habib watched on helplessly as they prepared his sedated daughter, oblivious to the flurry of medics around her, for the one-hour journey to Malta on board the Medavia plane on Friday. The girl’s fate is now in the hands of doctors at Mater Dei Hospital, and according to anaesthetist Simon Paris the young girl has to first overcome her infections and build her energy after suffering pneumonia in recent days, before plastic surgery can even begin to be considered.

“If she gets through all this, the next step will be plastic surgery in an attempt to rebuild her missing abdominal wall,” he said, adding that her severe abdominal injuries were cause for grave concern.

Throughout the short journey to Malta, the girl’s stable condition was maintained, as Dr Paris, nurse Mary Bezzina and technician Charles Sacco monitored her every breath, aided with a ventilator to stabilise her.

Tears had dried up on the corners of Ritag’s eyes, and Dr Paris said the young girl had been in considerable pain.

“I cannot think of her future at the moment, but all I can say is that in the short-term her condition is stable,” he said.

The decision to bring the young girl to Malta was coordinated by the Defence Department within the Office of the Prime Minister and arrangements were made by the Health Ministry.

Defence director Vanessa Frazier said the Libyan Health Ministry made a request for the girl to be transferred a week ago because she could not receive further treatment in Libya.

“It is very fulfilling to be able to help those injured, especially when you see young children who have been hurt,” Ms Frazier said.

In all, 33 wounded Libyans have been transferred for further treatment in Malta – all these cases have been treated at no cost to the victims, and the Qatari government has provided accommodation and a per diem allowance for their relatives during their stay. Among the serious cases transferred was Shweyga Mullah, the Ethiopian nanny who grabbed the world’s attention after she was discovered by CNN journalists in the plush home of Muammar Gaddafi’s son Hannibal, with her head and body covered in a patchwork of weeping wounds.

Her only crime was refusing to beat Gaddafi’s grandchild who was crying. Hannibal’s wife, Aline, lost her temper, dragged Ms Mullah to the bathroom, tied her arms and legs and poured boiling water over her head.

Ms Frazier said Ms Mullah was still in hospital, and although she remained frail, she was responding well to the treatment. The government has made arrangements to fly her brother to Malta from Ethiopia, which would provide immense moral support.

The girl, who is Catholic, is often visited by a priest, while Ethiopians who live in Malta sometimes call on her.

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