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| Monday, 24 January 2005 |
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Phone on Aceh body gives solace to Indonesian family BANDA ACEH, Indonesia, Sunday (Reuters) The Indonesian soldiers spotted Andri Ary floating on a pond, one of the many corpses still uncollected in this tsunami-ravaged city, a month after the giant waves hit. But in a stroke of luck, they found a cellular phone inside the clenched fist of the chemical engineering student's bloated hand. At least now, they might be able to give his family some solace if the phone card inside still worked. Rotten and decomposed, the body would normally end up being dumped unceremoniously in a mass grave, instead of getting a proper burial. Soldier Iswan Deli, 23, took the card out of the phone and used it to dial a number listed as 'home-medan', reaching Ary's uncle in the city of Medan in neighbouring North Sumatra province, who quickly alerted another uncle in Banda Aceh. A relatively intact wallet with an ID card was found, but that would have been useless without a contact number because all unclaimed bodies must be buried immediately. The ID card showed Ary was 23, a student at an Islamic University in North Sumatra and the youngest son in his family of two siblings. His uncle, Hasmirullah, rushed to the scene. "His sister is now in Medan. She's glad at least that Andri's body has been found," said Hasmirullah. "I got a call from my brother in Medan, and he told me about the discovery. This is great, we never expected to find him," said a visibly cheered Hasmirullah, looking at Ary's identity card. Ary's parents remain missing and were probably dead, Hasmirullah added. |
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