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December 31, 2004
Giant Snake Followed to Safety
From the AFP via the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation):
An Indonesian woman in the tsunami-ravaged province of Aceh has recalled swimming to safety with her neighbour's young twins on her back by using a giant snake to guide her through the flood waters.

Riza, a 26-year-old clothes seller from Penayang village in the capital of Banda Aceh, said she initially watched helplessly as the tsunami swept in to destroy her home on Sunday morning.
[...]
Riza said that as she was carried out of her house she was dragged towards her badly injured neighbour, who was struggling to hold on to her nine-year-old twins.

"Please save my twins, just let me go, as long as they're safe," a tearful Riza recalled the mother saying.

Riza said she grabbed the twins and placed them on her back.

As she struggled through the torrent, she saw a snake as big as a telephone pole gliding left with current of the water and towards what turned out to be a makeshift bank.

"Strangely I felt no fear," Riza said, adding she followed the snake to safety.

"Thank God, with the power I had left, I managed to go to higher ground and the water was only a metre high."

Riza said the twins suffered severe bruising and other injuries from being battered, but they too were safe. There was no word on the fate of their mother.

Posted by Alan Brain at December 31, 2004 11:26 PM | TrackBack
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