Indonesia Girl Back With Family After 2004 Tsunami

Published December 23, 2011 5:18AM (EST)

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (AP) — A girl who was swept away in the Indian Ocean tsunami seven years ago has been reunited with her parents.

Fifteen-year-old Wati showed up at a cafe in Meulaboh, a city in Aceh province, earlier this week, saying she'd been forced to work as a beggar and had finally broken free.

She said she was looking for her family.

Wati was led to a man named Ibrahim, her grandfather, who summoned her parents, Yusniar and Yusuf.

The parents said they lost three daughters when the tsunami that killed 230,000 people in a dozen nations slammed into their tiny village of Ujong Baroh.

The mother, Yusniar, said she recognized Wati by the small scar over her eyebrow and a mole on her hip.


By Salon Staff

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