Tsunami Girl Lost For A Year Spotted In News Photo

[chuchok]

Tsunami girl lost for a year spotted in news photo

11.12.05 5.00pm

By Stephen Khan

The governor of the tsunami-hit province of Phuket has pledged his personal help to a German-Thai couple searching for a daughter they firmly believe is still alive nearly one year after the surging ocean tore her away from her mother's arms.

The parents, Sascha and Patchara Meissmer, say they are certain that a girl they saw in a grainy photograph taken a day after the tsunami is their five-year-old daughter Solitaire, and yesterday officials were scouring orphanages in the region for any sign of her.

"We are pleased to help the parents investigating and searching for their daughter," said Udomsak Asawawarangu, Governor of Phuket, yesterday.

Mr Meissmer, 36, from Frankfurt, and his wife will meet the governor on Tuesday, by which time it is hoped that further information about the fate of their daughter will have emerged.

"I am confident that he can help investigate the case of my daughter because the picture was taken in the office of the provincial administration." Mr Meissmer said.

The couple say that someone in Germany posted a photograph on a Phuket tsunami website - www.phuketremembers.com - which showed a little girl in profile sitting among a group of adults.

The parents first saw it last week and it was reproduced in a Thai newspaper on Friday.

Mrs Meissmer said yesterday that she has been able to track down three people, including a doctor, shown in the photo who told her it was taken 27 December, one day after the tsunami, in the provincial administration office which at the time was being set up as a tsunami emergency centre.

"I hope and pray to get my daughter back as a Christmas present.

We are a million per cent sure that the girl in the picture is our daughter," Mrs Meissmer said.

Her husband said he was "90 per cent sure."However, many families saw their hopes lifted and then dashed in the aftermath of the tsunami when what they thought was evidence of relatives' survival turned out to be unfounded.

And medics warned it was unlikely that Solitaire had survived and remained separated from her parents for so long.

Mr Meissmer owned a bungalow and restaurant in the nearby province of Phang-nga, where the greatest number of lives were lost.

He has lived in Thailand for eight years.

The Meissmer family were in their beachside restaurant, with Patchara holding Solitaire in her arms, when the tsunami struck.

"I was swept into the sea for more than 100m but miraculously survived," Mrs Meissmer said.

She was hospitalised for one week while her husband began the search for their daughter, which the couple said had cost them a considerable sum of money.

Nearly 5,400 people died and another 2,817 are still listed as missing in Thailand.

Many of the victims there were foreigners on holiday at beach resorts on the Andaman Sea coast.

A German Foreign Ministry spokesman in Berlin said that there were still German federal officers working in Thailand to help with the identification of bodies and assist in efforts to find the 15 German nationals still missing.

Mr Meissmer said they had gone to Thai and German police as well as the Phuket-based Disaster Victim Identification Unit after the tsunami but nobody believed their daughter could still be alive.

"Nobody helped us.

Even friends said they didn't believe our daughter had survived," he said.

However, a paediatric mental health expert, Dr Srivieng Pairojkul from Thailand's Khon Kaen University, said it was unlikely that the girl in the photograph was the Meissmers' daughter.

"The system in Thailand is such that it is very hard for a child to disappear [once she has been reported by the health authorities]," she said.

"Unlike neighbouring countries, there are very few cases of child trafficking here."

[NBT TV Phuket]

To see mini-video of interview with the father Sascha go to:

http://www.thaisnews.com/news_detail.php?newsid=154284

Tomorrow Wednesday we have a report on their meeting with Governor at

http://www.thaisnews.com/news_detail.php?newsid=154437

[khall64au]

Girl's body was found, says official

PHUKET: A Thai-German couple who say they are certain their missing daughter is still alive nearly one year after the tsunami were given her positively identified corpse months ago, a Thai official says.

Sascha and Patchara Meissmer, last week said they were certain a girl they have seen in a grainy photograph on a website taken after the tsunami was their five-year-old daughter Solitaire.

They were scheduled to meet the governor of Phuket yesterday to seek his help in finding her. But Colonel Khemarin Saisiri, who heads the victim identification effort, said the parents took the body of Solitaire on August 8 for cremation in the province of Loei.

The girl was identified by DNA testing that was confirmed by Thai and German officials.

Colonel Khemarin said he had personally handed the parents compensation funds for the loss of their child.

Associated Press

[leisurely]

Very confused by this. Is the child still missing or has she been cremated?

[Lop]

The child was cremated, but the couple believes it may have been another girl. Of course it's very tragic whoever this cremated girl was, but I really hope that they will eventually find Solitaire alive. I myself have a daughter in that age. I feel so sorry for this couple.

But since I haven't seen anything about this story since middle of December, I suppose nothing new has arisen.

//Lopburi

[MikeRay]

Parents will never give up their hope, neither would I if I couldn´t be 100% sure.

I couldn´t live anymore without my daughter.

Since I am a father I know what I´m living for and what the sense of my life is.

[leisurely]

Any more news on this? I am still puzzled. Why would they accept a body and compensation if they were not sure of the identity. I don't want to criticise this couple, but they may have robbed another set of parents....................

[phuketsiam]

what about the DNA tests, they should confirm ....

[youcantryreachingme]

But since I haven't seen anything about this story since middle of December, I suppose nothing new has arisen.

Hello. I maintain one of a few websites dedicated to Solitaire Meissmer (at www.doyouknowthisperson.com).

As you note - nothing new has hit the media since December 2005.

From the time of the tsunami (Dec 2004) until the family were notified of a DNA match (August 2005 - or possibly late July), the Meissmers were under the impression that Solitaire survived the tsunami because two people who knew her personally told them they saw her alive after the floods (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solitaire_Meissmer) at the Chong Fah waterfall - a place where many of the survivors gathered.

In August they received the body.

In November they were made aware of the online photograph which they believe shows Solitaire alive in the OrBorJor (Provincial Hall building of the City Hall complex) at Phuket, about 60 miles (100km) south of where she went missing.

The rest of the story you've already read - but I hope the information about the witnesses helps explain why the parents are eager for a check on the DNA analysis. (The body that was received was cremated, hence no further DNA testing is possible on the body.)

Regards,

Chris.

[mittheimp]

Taken from website- http://www.doyouknowthisperson.com/

9 Apr 2006 Update: The family of Solitaire Meissmer has informed us that an independent analysis on the bone sample used for Solitaire's identification in August 2005, has yielded a second positive identification. As a result, it is now believed that Solitaire has died. The family is still reconciling the fact that two personal acquaintences saw Solitaire alive after the tsunamis - one witness also spoke with her. Therefore if you have any further information which may help the family reconcile these differences, please continue to contact us.