Good News
Swedish Father and Son Reunited (Source: Yahoo)
A Swedish toddler was reunited with his father Wednesday, days after being found alone in the aftermath of the deadly tsunami that swept Asia.
Hannes Bergstroem was found after the waves subsided Sunday and taken to a hospital on this resort island for treatment. His photo was posted on the Internet Monday.
The two-year-old's uncle saw the photo and claimed the boy Tuesday. On Wednesday the child was reunited with his father, Marko Karkkainen, at a hospital on the southern Thai island of Phuket where both father and son were receiving treatment.
Hannes, his face scratched and pocked with mosquito bites, looked puzzled as his father choked up with emotion.
Despite the joy of seeing one another again, the day was tinged with sadness and anxiety. Suzanne Bergstroem, the boys mother, is still among some 5,000 people missing in Thailand. Nearly 2,000 people are confirmed dead there, and the overall death toll from the tsunami in 11 affected countries is approaching 80,000.
Anonymous at 12/30/2004 08:45:00 PM |
Daly City family gets good news
Source : http://www.sfexaminer.com/article/index.cfm/i/123004n_bowdry
Friends and family of Marc Bowdry breathed a collective sigh of relief Wednesday to hear that the Daly City man was not among the tens of thousands of Tsunami victims in southeastern Asia.
Bowdry, 31, who was traveling to Sumatra, Indonesia, with his fiancé, Augustine Sumilong, finally made contact with his family Wednesday afternoon. This following four days of agonizing silence in which he was counted among the thousands of Americans missing after a massive earthquake Sunday led to the tsunami waves that devastated the coastsides of many countries bordering the Indian Ocean -- the Red Cross estimated the death toll from the disaster to be as high as 100,000.
"I'm just ecstatic, man, I can't believe it," said longtime friend Adisa Banjoko, who grew up with Bowdry in San Bruno. "I mean just think of all the people that didn't come back -- this was an event of biblical proportions, and for him to be just outside of that, is just amazing."
It was unclear exactly where Bowdry and Sumilong were at the time the tsunamis struck. Banjoko said he thought the two were in Jakarta, where Sumilong's family is believed to live. Jakarta was just outside of the danger range of the tsunamis. The Daly City man's uncle, Steve Bowdry, however, had talked briefly to his nephew and said he believed the couple had just arrived at Jakarta from the traveling through other parts of Indonesia -- the couple had planned on traveling through different parts of the country during the trip.
"I think he just got there, he was saying something about people floating in the water," said Bowdry's uncle, who lives in South San Francisco. "I didn't get all the details -- I'll get all that when he gets back.
"Certainly, I'm relieved. To know that he wasn't affected by it, that he was able to get out of there."
Banjoko said he had been frantically e-mailing and calling his friend's cell phone, and only heard from his uncle Wednesday afternoon. Steve Bowdry, meanwhile, had been in contact with his nephew's mother in Chicago, and Sumilong's family in an effort to contact the two.