Setback for young burns victim as mother vanishes

The parents of seven-year-old Mariana, who was doused in petrol and set on fire by Russian mafia thugs have disappeared.

A 14-year-old cousin has taken the place of the little girl's mother at her hospital bedside.

Mariana's mother had been keeping a constant vigil since the child was taken to hospital.

Plastic surgeon Charles Viva has offered to operate free of charge on Mariana, who has 85 degree burns, if she can be brought to Teesside, the home of the charity Convoy Aid.

Mariana cannot be brought to Britain unless accompanied by one of her parents. Passports have been prepared for both Mariana and her mother for the emergency airlift and are waiting to be collected.

The parents' disappearance coincides with photographs published in newspapers in Romania purporting to show Mariana in an intensive care bed linked to intravenous tubes and surrounded by doctors and nurses.

But Convoy Aid founder Rod Jones says the little girl in the photographs is not Mariana.

Mr Jones, 55, said last night: "I have got people running all over the place in Romania trying to trace the parents. I have no idea where they can be, their own families have not seen them.

"I am very worried about the whole situation. I am concerned as to their whereabouts and very nervous about what is going on.''

Mariana had a gallon of petrol poured over her and set alight apparently by gangsters after her forestry commission manager father refused to turn a blind eye to a multi-million pound theft of timber.

People across the North-East have sent the charity donations to raise the £10,000 needed to bring Mariana to Teesside for life saving treatment. Some pensioners were so moved by the little girl's plight that they gave money from their life savings.

Mr Jones said: "It's quite suspicious they have gone missing at this time. The passports are ready, yet we cannot do anything without the parents.''

After Mariana was attacked, the family home was burned to the ground.