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| Sunday, 9 January 2005 |
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Tsunamis pour cold water on the birth of a child in Maldives GURAIDHOO, Maldives, Saturday (AFP) Maldivian mother Abdul Samad, 29, was ready to return home after a difficult delivery in hospital, but painful news awaited her. The tsunami that swamped this tiny inhabited island, an hour away by speed boat from the capital island Male, had killed her third child, one-year-old Risham. The waves had flattened dozens of houses. His body was found under the rubble. Samad's sister Shabana, 25, related the tragic events as Abdul, a recent divorcee, was too distraught to relive her nightmare. Instead of celebrating the birth of a new child the day before Christmas, the family was now in mourning. Samad now mainly sits in front of a heap of rocks and sheets and broken rafters that used to be her home. This is where the one-year-old was pinned by a collapsing wall. The paramedics said the infant could have been saved if he was given proper first aid. Fighting a flood of tears, Samad said in English: "I want to get married... start a new life." |
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