Aceh Tsunami Girl Returns Home After Seven Years

Ahmad Fuad Yahya JAKARTA, Dec 23 (Bernama) -- Seven years after being swept out to sea in 2004 and presumed dead, a 15-year-old Aceh tsunami victim turned up in her village and has been united with her parents. The girl, named Wati, was reportedly ripped from her mother's grasp in the province of Aceh during the tsunami on boxing day and feared drowned, but on Wednesday a friend of the girl's grandfather, Ibrahim found her sitting alone at a coffee shop and brought the girl to his house in Meulaboh city. When questioned, she said that she had come by bus from Banda Aceh and was trying to find her way home but did not know how, news portal The Telegraph reported on Thursday. The girl said she could not remember any of her relatives' names except Ibrahim, which made her grandfather think she could be his long-lost grandchild. He immediately summoned her parents, Yusniar and Yusuf, who confirmed that Wati was their daughter from a mole and a small scar on her elbow, the report said. What had happened to Wati in the intervening seven years was unclear. Some 168,000 people died in the 2004 Indonesian tsunami, which claimed about 230,000 lives world wide. -- BERNAMA