Sri Lanka's Tsunami baby reunited with parents

An infant who miraculously survived Sri Lanka's Tsunami attack on Dec. 26 and later went through the agony of a court battle was finally reunited with his parents Wednesday.

Officials at the court in the eastern town of Kalmunai said that "baby 81" or the 3 month old Abhilesh was handed over to parents after a DNA verification test proved the parenthood of the boy.

Murugupillai Jeyarajah and his wife Juanita took charge of the child from the court after the court ruled on Monday that the DNA tests had proved that they were the real parents of the child.

District Judge of Kalmunai M.P. Mohideen delivered a 22 page ruling on the case before ordering the release of Abhilesh to the Jeyarajahs.

The baby came to be known as the "baby 81" because it was the 81st victim admitted to the hospital more than 200 Kms away from here on Dec. 26 when the killer Tsunami tidal waves struck the country's coastal lines.

Murugupillai and Juanita had claimed that any documentary evidence they had to prove the boy was theirs were lost in the disaster.

The Kalmunai court on Feb. 2 ordered the DNA tests to verify the parenthood after as many as six sets of parents had shown an interest to adopt the child.

The tests were done a week later in the capital Colombo.

Source: Xinhua