Nine women claim baby

2005-01-16 12:37

Colombo - The infant dubbed "Baby 81" nurses from a bottle of milk and kicks playfully at a pink blanket as nine desperate, heartbroken women quarrel over him - all claiming he was torn from them by last month's tsunami.

One man standing outside the nursery at Kalmunai Base Hospital threatened to kill himself and his wife if they are not given the baby. A woman at the hospital said she would kill the doctors if he is not returned to her.

The battle over the wide-eyed boy, who appears to be about three or four months old, symbolises the enormous loss in the December 26 tsunami disaster.

Children accounted for a staggering 40% - or 12 000 - of Sri Lanka's death toll of nearly 31 000. In all, nearly 160 000 people have died across southern Asia.

The loss is especially keenly felt in Ampara district, where the fight over "Baby 81" is taking place. There were 10 436 people killed in Ampara, the highest in Sri Lanka.

The infant, bruised and covered in mud but otherwise healthy, was brought to the hospital hours after the tsunami struck Kalmunai, a remote town in eastern Sri Lanka populated by Muslims and Tamils. It was partly cut off after a major bridge was swept away by the deadly waves.

He was given the nickname because his real name is not known and he was the 81st admission that terrible day, officials said on Friday. No relatives were with him.

Now, nurses in the hospital are competing to take care of the infant, a doctor said. They have put a "mottu" on his forehead - a black stain to ward off evil.

But the nurses are not the only ones vying for him.

"Parents who have lost their children come every day to the hospital to check," Dr K R Saseenthirian said on Friday in a telephone interview. "Some go back, and some stay and claim that the baby is theirs."

The nine women who claim "Baby 81" show up at the hospital and quarrel with each other over possession, a hospital official said on condition of anonymity.

"Most of the parents who came and claimed that this is their baby are really believing that this is their baby," Dr K Muhunthan, a consultant obstetrician, told Sky TV.

"Maybe they are not lying, because they have lost a baby of the same age and all the babies they look at look like their own child," he said.

Hospital authorities asked police to investigate after some of the parents became violent, Saseenthirian said. No one was injured.

"Now it will have to be a court decision. If the court asks us to conduct DNA tests, we will do that," Saseenthirian said.

DNA tests are expensive in this poor region, however, and it was unclear who would pay.

- AP