Wednesday, December 29 2004 09:53 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Car Nicobar (Andamans): Her father had been washed away by the tsunami and she too was believed to be dead. Then came the miracle. She was washed back on shore from the sea where she had been floating since Sunday (Dec 26, 2004) on a ripped of door of her home.

"This was a miracle in the midst of the disaster the tsunami wrought," station commander of the IAF (Indian Air Force) base in Car Nicobar, V V Bandhopadhyay said.

The 13-year-old girl, Maya, was badly bruised and had been kept company on the floating door by sea serpents, but they did not harm her, he said.

After being washed ashore yesterday (Dec 28, 2004), she asked to be taken to the guardhouse of the airbase.

But she was told that it no longer existed, she asked to be taken to the runway, currently the centre of all activity of the devastated base, where 100 IAF personnel have perished.

After being taken there she was treated by doctors for her bruises and later flown out to Port Blair, the station commander said.