Thursday, March 17, 2005
International news from swissinfo, the Swiss news platform
International news from swissinfo, the Swiss news platform: "Tsunami 'Baby 81' hits America
By Sue Pleming
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - 'Baby 81,' the infant who has become Sri Lanka's most celebrated tsunami survivor, has made his debut on
U.S. breakfast television to raise funds for quake victims back home.
Gurgling at news anchors who clamoured to hug the 4-month-old, Abilass Jeyarajah appeared on ABC's 'Good Morning America'
show on Wednesday with his parents, whose custody battle was settled only after court-ordered DNA tests proved he was their son.
'God only knows why they didn't give him to us,' the boy's father, Murugupillai, told ABC of the wrenching custody fight, which quickly
became an international news story.
Abilass was seen by many as a beacon of hope for bereaved parents whose children were swept away by Asia's December 26
tsunami, which killed nearly 40,000 people along Sri Lanka's palm-fringed shores alone.
Ripped from his mother's arms by raging waters, Abilass was found alive amid debris on a Sri Lankan beach and taken to a hospital
where staff gave him the nickname as he was the 81st person taken to the hospital after the tsunami struck.
His parents, hearing a baby had been found, rushed to the hospital but were not allowed to take him home until DNA tests proved the
little boy was their son. Eight other desperate parents had also claimed the child.
The child's mother told ABC she did not like the name 'Baby 81' and wanted people to call her son by his real name Abilass, which
meant hope and joy.
SAD NICKNAME
'Baby 81 is a name associated with sadness and worry,' said Jenita, who had at one stage stormed the hospital under the glare of
televis"
By Sue Pleming
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - 'Baby 81,' the infant who has become Sri Lanka's most celebrated tsunami survivor, has made his debut on
U.S. breakfast television to raise funds for quake victims back home.
Gurgling at news anchors who clamoured to hug the 4-month-old, Abilass Jeyarajah appeared on ABC's 'Good Morning America'
show on Wednesday with his parents, whose custody battle was settled only after court-ordered DNA tests proved he was their son.
'God only knows why they didn't give him to us,' the boy's father, Murugupillai, told ABC of the wrenching custody fight, which quickly
became an international news story.
Abilass was seen by many as a beacon of hope for bereaved parents whose children were swept away by Asia's December 26
tsunami, which killed nearly 40,000 people along Sri Lanka's palm-fringed shores alone.
Ripped from his mother's arms by raging waters, Abilass was found alive amid debris on a Sri Lankan beach and taken to a hospital
where staff gave him the nickname as he was the 81st person taken to the hospital after the tsunami struck.
His parents, hearing a baby had been found, rushed to the hospital but were not allowed to take him home until DNA tests proved the
little boy was their son. Eight other desperate parents had also claimed the child.
The child's mother told ABC she did not like the name 'Baby 81' and wanted people to call her son by his real name Abilass, which
meant hope and joy.
SAD NICKNAME
'Baby 81 is a name associated with sadness and worry,' said Jenita, who had at one stage stormed the hospital under the glare of
televis"
