A young girl who was washed away in 2004’s Indian Ocean tsunami when she was just eight years old has found her family again … almost seven years after it was assumed she had died. Quite the Christmas present, huh?
The girl, named Wati, returned to her grandfather in Meulaboh city on Wednesday. Now aged fifteen, she was accompanied by an acquaintance of her grandfather, who said the lost girl had shown up at his coffee shop and told him she had come to Meulaboh by bus. Wati said she was trying to find her way back home, but was lost. The only name she could remember (aside from her own) was that of her grandfather, Ibrahim.
Ibrahim was quickly convinced the girl was his granddaughter, and her identity was later confirmed by her parents, thanks to a mole and a scar over her eyebrow that she had acquired when she was six years old.
Indonesia’s Antara news agency reports how Wati was split from her family – apparently, she lost the grip of her mother (who was attempting to carry Wati and her two siblings to safety) and was carried away by the water. Wati’s mother and siblings all survived the disaster.
There are still plenty of unanswered questions about Wati. For example, it’s not known what has happened to her since she was carried away by the tsunami – her whereabouts for the past seven years are a complete mystery.
The Indian Ocean tsunami occurred on Boxing Day 2004, and claimed 230,210 – 310,000 lives.
See also: Dog From Virginia Found in California, Eight Years After Going Missing
