‘Napalm Girl’ credit challenged

Rising doubt: A file photo of Vietnam War survivor Kim Phuc Phan Thi (left), also known as the ‘Napalm Girl’, posing with Ut (right) holding his 1972 Pulitzer Prize and World Press Photo award-winning photograph. — AFP

World Press Photo said it removed US-Vietnamese photographer Nick Ut’s name as the person credited for one of history’s most iconic pictures, the Vietnam War image “Napalm Girl”, amid doubts over its authorship.

The organisation, which awards one of the world’s most prestigious photojournalism prizes, said it carried out its own investigation into the haunting 1972 photo – which shows a nine-year-old girl fleeing naked from a napalm strike – after the premiere of the film The Stringer.