THAILAND: A 4-YEAR-OLD THAI BOY IS REUNITED WITH PARENTS AFTER BEING LEFT STRANDED ON TOP OF A TREE FOR MORE THAN 2 DAYS AFTER A TSUNAMI HIT PHUKET

Record ID: 338280

  • Title: THAILAND: A 4-YEAR-OLD THAI BOY IS REUNITED WITH PARENTS AFTER BEING LEFT STRANDED ON TOP OF A TREE FOR MORE THAN 2 DAYS AFTER A TSUNAMI HIT PHUKET
  • Date: 29th December 2004
  • Summary: PHANG NGA, PHUKET, THAILAND (DECEMBER 29, 2004) (REUTERS) 1. FOUR-YEAR-OLD THAI BOY, VATHANYU PHA-OPAS, WITH HIS PARENTS IN HOSPITAL 0.07 2. CU: VATHANYU'S FATHER, SUTHIPONG PHA-OPAS LOOKING AT HIS SON AS HIS MOTHER CHANGES HIS NAPPY 0.11 3. SCU: SUTHIPONG LIFTING VATHANYU FROM THE BED AS HE STARTS CRYING 0.26 4. ANOTHER TWO CHILDRE
  • Embargoed: 13th January 2005 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: PHANG NGA, PHUKET, THAILAND
  • Country: Thailand
  • Reuters ID: LVA9C688LPN35DVSOGRTHNK7P58L
  • Story Text: A 4-year-old Thai boy reunited with parents after
    being stranded on top of a tree for more than two days in
    Phuket.


    Four-year-old Vathanyu Pha-opas has been reunited
    with his parents after being left stranded on a tree
    without food and water for more than two days by the
    tsunami which hit in southern Thailand.

    Vathanyu's father, Suthipong Pha-opas, said it was a
    miracle his son was still alive.

    Twenty-six year-old Suthipong, said his son was playing
    near their flimsy wooden house when the tsunami, triggered
    by the biggest earthquake in 40 years, smashed into Khao
    Lak, killing more than 1,000 Thais and foreign tourists in
    the popular resort north of Phuket.

    "I was frightened, I did not think I would survive. The
    rescue team found my son in the mangrove, not me", the
    father said.

    He was out five miles offshore in a boat with a friend
    when the tsunami.

    He said he floated in the sea four or five hours before
    being rescued.

    There were 10 children at Khao Lak's Takuapa hospital
    who were all rescued from the quake.

    The death toll at Khao Lak could reach 3,000.



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