A REMARKABLE North-East surgeon is preparing to fly to the other side of the world to help the victims of war.

Charles Viva, a retired plastic surgeon from Middlesbrough, is answering a mercy call from the island of Sri Lanka.

Peace has finally returned in the ravaged country after years of bloody civil war.

Now Mr Viva is taking the opportunity to help those who have been injured in the fighting.

The former Middlesbrough General Hospital surgeon, who regularly travels to countries such as Pakistan and Bangladesh to operate on desperately poor people, was asked to travel to Sri Lanka because the fragile peace looks like holding.

"We have been requested to see a lot of the people who have been injured by the fighting, many have suffered facial scarring, limb injuries and skin loss," said Mr Viva, who is part of an international aid charity called Interplast.

"Thankfully, at the moment, there is peace and no fighting," he said.

A team of 12 doctors and nurses are flying out to Sri Lanka on Saturday.

Once they get there, they will travel to the once-dangerous Jaffna peninsula.

Among them are four volunteer nurses from North-East hospitals, who are going in their own time.

A welcome addition to the party is a German plastic surgeon, who is flying to the UK to rendezvous with the Interplast party before the outward flight to Sri Lanka.

"The surgeon from Germany has been to Vietnam, where he has experience of treating people who have been injured by war," said Dr Viva.

The trip, which will also involve repairing cleft palates and cleft lips, is expected to cost Interplast about £12,000.

"Sri Lanka Airlines have been very helpful. They have given us concessionary tickets for the nurses," said Mr Viva.

For 20 years the Government of Sri Lanka has been locked in bitter civil war with the breakaway Tamil Tigers for control of large parts of the island.

Savage fighting between the two main ethnic groups, the Sinhalese and the Tamils, has claimed thousands of lives and left large numbers scarred for life.

* For information about Interplast UK ring (01642) 882442.