Swedish boy reunited with father via Internet

"SPIEGEL ONLINE" ^ | 12/30/2004 | "SPIEGEL ONLINE"

[longjack]

SPIEGEL ONLINE - 30. Dezember 2004, 11:37
URL: http://www.spiegel.de/panorama/0,1518,334939,00.html

Thailand
 
Flood Child Hannes Finds His Father Again

Hannes Bergström was lucky: He survived the natural disaster, and his father too. Tourists found the two-year-old Swede near Khao Lak on Sunday. There was no trace of his parents

DPA

Flood Victim Hannes: At least father and Grandfather have survived

Phuket - It was a reunion in the midst of the injured. Yesterday, little Hannes Bergström was finally brought to to his father Marko Karkkainen, who is laying in the hospital in Phuket. The two-year-old boy had been in a hospital himself since Sunday because none of his relatives in Thailand had been able to be found. "He appeared inconsolable when he was delivered here on Sunday evening, with a few superficial skin abrasions on the face and body ", Vilad Mumbansao, an employee of the hospital, said.

Tourists had found the two-year-old Hannes near the vacation spot Khao Lak on Sunday. He was sitting all alone on a street and was silent since Hannes can't speak yet. The boy, whose nationality was unclertain at first, was admitted to a hospital in Phuket. The hospital posted a picture of the boy on the Internet and an uncle from the Gothenburg, Swedish called in and identified Hannes.

According to details provided by his uncle, the small child had been with four relatives on a one-month Thailand trip. According to the Swedish newspaper "Aftonbladet", Hannes' grandfather is also in a Thai hospital. The mother and the grandmother of the boy are still considered as missing.

Dozens of families are still separated In the flood devastated Thailand vacation regions, many children have become flood orphans. More than 4000 people are still missing in Thailand. Among them are also many vacationers: At the time of the flood wave there were 20,000 Swedes in Thailand, according to information from the Swedish State Department, authorities suspect that 2200 of them are dead.
 

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"Spiegel-Online"....Flut-Kind Hannes findet Vater wieder"

Translated by longjack

[longjack]

Hannes is my son's name, too, and he is also a towhead like this little guy.

One shudders to think of the anguish.

longjack

[longjack]

OOPS...

should be: an uncle from Gothenburg, Sweden

I need to proofread better:

longjack

[cyborg]

This just gets worse every day :(

[Bon mots]

They found the grandmother and the father, but his mother is missing.

[longjack]

"Spiegel" definitely says Grandfather in their article.

I wonder what's up.

longjack

[Snapple]

I saw this story on TV. The baby was being held by a Swedish woman in her 60s--the grandmother.

[Bon mots]

So it looks like only his mother is missing. I've seen the photo of him with his uncle and grandmother, then the next day the photos of him reunited with his dad. The article also says that he was with four family members for a month... so it looks like he only lost his mom.

My heart goes out to that ten year old Swedish boy who lost his mother, father and all of his brothers and is now stuck there alone. Heartbreaking.

[Vor Lady]

Surely some relative will collect him? Has anyone heard if the home countries will bring the orphans back for adoption?

[tuckrdout]

Sorry, in the midst of the sadness and joy of this story, there is another one; perhaps a darker side.

What were this boy and his parents doing in Phuket, Thailand?!

http://www.phuketgazette.net/gazette/frontpage.htm

http://www.phuketgazette.net/gazette/perspec.htm

Phuket, is one of the child sex capitols of the world! Anything goes in this place. Anything. The spelling of the name of the town is a play on it's reputation! If pronounced phonetically, in English, you get the idea what the true name of the town is, and what their major industry is.

Do we really want $350,000,000 going to "rebuild" this vile place? Perhaps this is the true story of why Bush did not want to give so much money?