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| -Signs, Portents, and the Weather- |
| Western Child Still Unclaimed In Tsunami Disaster |
| 2004-12-29 |
| DOZENS of parents desperate to find their missing children rushed to a Thai hospital yesterday hoping that an unidentified Western toddler was theirs. But all came away disappointed and the blond-haired boy, thought to be about two, spent his second night alone in hospital. It was not clear what had happened to the boy, who was found sitting on a road not far from the town of Khao Lak in Phang-nga province, where waves swept away hundreds of tourists and trapped people inside flooded buildings. A few tourists saw the toddler sitting alone and took him to hospital, said Vilad Mumbansao, a staff member at Phuket Hospital. "He looked bleak when he arrived on Sunday night, with some surface wounds on his face and body," he said. No one has claimed the child. The child was lying in a hospital bed yesterday wearing a red and yellow checked shirt and hooked to a saline drip. He was looking healthier after doctors gave him oxygen for a day. Nurse Jintana Choochai said dozens of foreigners had gone to the hospital to see if the baby was theirs, but his parents were not among them. Hospital staff were trying to determine the nationality of the baby. "He could be Swedish because he was enthusiastic when a man spoke Swedish to him," Mr Vilad said. Meanwhile, Malaysian media reported that a 20-day-old baby sleeping on a mattress survived the tsunamis by floating to safety. The baby, identified only as S. Tulasi, was sleeping in a room behind her father's food stall on Penang's popular Batu Ferringhi beach when the waves hit, Bernama news agency reported. "We were all caught off guard. I was thrown several metres away, but managed to hold on to one of the posts," A. Suppiah, 55, was quoted as saying. His wife, Annal Mary, 40, fought her way through the waters to the room where the baby was sleeping. "Thank God the mattress was floating in about 1.5m of water and my baby was crying," she said. |
| Posted by:God Save The World |
| #6 Off-Topic, Update-- my friends made contact. Seems they had spent Christmas kayak camping on an island off of Phuket. They were on the beach and saw the wave coming, and ran like mad. They lost everything but shorts and t-shirts, and count themselves extremely lucky. Best wishes to all still missing their comrades. |
| Posted by: Asedwich 2004-12-29 8:12:08 PM |
| #5 I saw this kid on TV this morning. He was identified as Swedish and his grandmother came to pick him up. His father had survived, but his mother is missing. I was actually quite touched by the story, thinking about my own 3-year old son. |
| Posted by: Spot 2004-12-29 9:27:05 AM |
| #4 Thanks Zenster, and I'll definitely take advantage of that address. |
| Posted by: Asedwich 2004-12-29 9:25:32 AM |
| #3 Asedwich, please accept my highest hopes that your friends all return safe and sound. A person from my own music clan went to Thailand just for the holidays. Our group was a bit frantic until he emailed back mentioning how he had fortunately gone to see the east coast beaches within less than a day of the quake. Needless to say (then why say it?), there were some tense hours awaiting his reply. I urge all of Rantburg's members to consider emailing the Australian embassy at public.affairs@austemb.org with personal condolences. For how much Down-Under has fought and suffered right along side of us here Up-Over, I feel that expressing some sympathy for the Oz folk is a no-brainer. But that's just me. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2004-12-29 5:32:46 AM |
| #2 Amen, Zenster. I just found out that a couple of friends were doing a kayak tour in Thailand this week. No word yet, but here's to hoping. |
| Posted by: Asedwich 2004-12-29 2:22:40 AM |
| #1 Small miracles amidst the mayhem. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2004-12-29 1:01:41 AM |