Curious visitors continue to stream through Dr. Ishak Hospital in Tulungagung, East Java, eager for a glimpse of Desinta Adelia Putri, the "miracle baby" who was found alive in the arms of her dead mother eight hours after a landslide swept through their village Thursday morning.
"It is a miracle ... the baby survived such a huge natural disaster," a visitor to the hospital said Saturday.
Five-month-old Adel was found in her mother's arms amid piles of debris. Both her father Katemu and mother Sunarti died in the disaster.
"Now there is only Adel, Dwi (Adel's older sister Melina Dwi Ratnasari, 14) and me," said Fitrian Ardiansyah, 16, the oldest of the three siblings.
The tragedy began Wednesday night when torrential rains pounded Dompyong village in Bendungan district, Trenggalek regency. Katemu, Sunarti and their three children were asleep at the time. At about midnight a massive crashing sound was heard and all the power went out in the village, located on the slopes of Mt. Wilis.
"Our neighbors say the sound was the earth moving, but we did not know this at the time because we were all asleep," Ardiansyah said. Moments later their house was hit by a wall of moving mud and water.
The entire family was swept away. "When I woke up, I was on the banks of the nearby river, about 20 meters from our house. I couldn't move because my legs were pinned between some wood," Ardiansyah said.
Amid the confusion, about 20 villagers who had managed to escape the landslide came to Ardiansyah's aid. He was moved to a nearby mosque before being taken to a community health center.
The survivors continued to search for victims among the mounds of wreckage, and it was about eight hours after the landslide that Sunarti's body was found.
As residents worked to remove the body from the debris, they heard the crying of baby Adel in her mother's arms. The baby had a cut on her head, her arms and legs were swollen and she was covered in mud.
"It was my sister crying. Adel was alive," Ardiansyah said. The baby was rushed to Dr. Ishak Hospital in Tulungagung, while her mother and father were buried in nearby Bendungan cemetery.
Dr. Farida Kristinasari, who treated Adel, was amazed by the condition of Adel. "For a baby buried in mud for eight hours, it is remarkable. There were no serious injuries," the doctor said.
Adel is smiling at visitors and drinking milk from a bottle. She will be reexamined before being released.
An aunt, Samurti, has volunteered to take in Adel and her two siblings. "They can stay with me in Ponorogo. I will treat them as my own children," said Samurti, Katemu's younger sister.
Sunday, May 07, 2006
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