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    Taiwanese girl survives tsunami in coconut tree


    STAFF WRITER, WITH AFP
    Thursday, Dec 30, 2004, Page 1

    A TV-grab taken yesterday shows six-year-old Yeh Chia-ni recounting her experience of surviving a tsunami in Phuket, Thailand. Her mother is still missing.
    PHOTO: AFP
    A six-year-old Taiwanese girl survived the killer tsunami that battered Thailand after landing in a coconut tree that prevented her from being washed away, local TV reports said yesterday.

    The girl's family had arrived for a vacation in Phuket from Shanghai, where they are based, a few days ago.

    Yeh Chia-ni (¸­¨Î©g) was on the beach with her mother, Chiang Wan-ling («¸°û¬Â), at the Phi Phi resort when the tsunami deluged the island.

    The girl was rescued after being stuck in coconut trees for a day and a night. But her mother was washed away by the surging water and is missing.

    "I was hanging up there ... a foreigner climbed up and saved me," she told the TVBS news channel.

    The girl was reunited with her father in Phuket after being treated at a hospital for light injuries. She was reportedly calm and cooperative when receiving treatment. She suffered a few bruises and needed six stitches on her forehead.

    "I thought my parents didn't want me anymore," the girl said. "I hadn't had breakfast, lunch and dinner for a long, long time."

    Yeh Chia-ni will return to Taiwan while her father, Yeh Shih-ping (¸­®ÉÙy), remains in Thailand to search for his wife.

    "[Chiang] was holding our daughter when the big waves came," the father said. "So she was unable to run very fast."

    Yeh Shih-ping said he felt blessed to have been reunited with his daughter, and was praying for a second miracle.

    Relatives of missing Taiwanese businesspeople are still searching for their loved ones in the area.
    This story has been viewed 3972 times.

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