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URGENT
APPEAL FOR INFORMATION
We
have received this message asking for assistance:
"Please send this to all we mean all! To all the
people in your entire network. We are looking for his
family."
Tsunami
victim - Khoa Lak, Phuket
The
boy is about 2 years old, found in Khoa Lak - he is
missing his parents. Nobody knows what country he
comes from. If anybody knows him or any of his
family please contact the relief agency by phone:
076-249400-4 ext. 1336, 1339 or email : info@phuket-inter-hospital.co.th
URGENT
APPEAL UPDATE
We
have now heard from Koen Cuypers with an update, and
thanks to Koen for letting us know to call off the
search.
Swedish
boy is reunited with father in Thailand
PHUKET,
Thailand (AP) — A Swedish toddler was reunited with
his weeping father in a Thai hospital Wednesday, days
after the 18-month-old was found sitting alone on a
roadside in the aftermath of the tsunami disaster. The
boy's mother is among some 5,000 people still missing in
Thailand.
Hannes
Bergstroem, his face scratched and pocked with mosquito
bites and his hand bandaged, looked bemused as his
father choked up with emotion. The father, also
scratched and bruised, lay in a hospital bed, holding
Hannes with ballons around them.
Hannes
was found alone on a roadside near a Thai beach resort
Sunday night and he was taken by helicopter to a
hospital for treatment. The hospital staff posted his
photo on the Internet Monday in an effort to locate his
family.
His
uncle, who spotted the photo, claimed the boy Tuesday
and set up the reunion with the father, Marko Karkkainen,
at a hospital on the southern Thai island of Phuket
where both father and son were receiving treatment.
There
were reports that an anonymous Thai princess arranged
the helicopter that brought Hannes from the road to the
hospital. Karkkainen said he had been told of the
reports.
"I
have been to Thailand seven times, and this time only
confirmed what I know about Thai people — that they
are so generous and caring," he said. "She has
saved his life, but also my soul because I couldn't
survive if I lost them both," he said referring to
his son and the boy's mother.
The
mother, Suzanne Bergstroem, has been missing since the
giant earthquake-spawned waves hit on Sunday, plowing
into the Thai resorts where thousands of Western
tourists were vacationing.
Nearly
2,000 people are confirmed dead in Thailand as of 29
December 2004, among nearly 77,000 killed across a dozen
countries.
Fortunately, this incident had a happy ending: Hannes'
uncle spotted the photo on 28 December 2004, and Hannes
and his father, Marko Karkkainen, were reunited at the
hospital the next day.
Origins:
Natural disasters of the scale of the Indian Ocean
earthquake and tsunami of December 2004 inevitably end
up separating people as they flee for safety or are
caught up in the effects of the disaster, creating a
period fraught with worry as family members anxiously
search for their loved ones. Sometimes survivors are too
sick or injured to get in touch with the rest of their
families, sometimes they're well but simply can't get a
message through in all the chaos, and sometimes — as
in this case — they can't communicate who they are
because they're too young or they speak a language
rescuers can't understand.
Marko
Karkkainen and his son Hannes Bergstroem
Hannes Bergstroem, a 2-year-old Swedish boy, was caught
up in the tsunami that struck Thailand on 26 December
2004 and separated from his father. He was reportedly
rescued and helicoptered to a hospital through the
efforts of a Thai princess, where he was treated for
scratches and mosquito bites but was otherwise okay. As
he was too young to adequately identify himself to
rescuers (who didn't even know his nationality) or to
provide sufficient information for them to locate his
parents, a doctor at Phuket International Hospital in
Thailand mailed out the boy's photo on the Internet with
an appeal for help with the identification.
Many
thanks for all you help and a speedy recovery to Marko
and Hannes, Nelson
Kruschandl
OUR
TSUNAMI PAGES & LINKS:
DESCRIPTION
& HISTORY | AFTERMATH
AID & MESSAGES | DECEMBER
30 2004 | DECEMBER
27 2004
EXTERNAL
TSUNAMI PAGES & LINKS:
CONTACT:
nelson@solarnavigator.net
+44 (0) 7905 147709 (UK)
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