Tsunami boy meets football heroes
Published: June 5, 2005
An Indonesian boy who survived the Boxing Day tsunami fulfilled his dream when he watched his heroes, Portugal’s national football team, play in Lisbon.
Martunis was just seven when he was rescued after spending 19 days alone on a Banda Aceh beach following the December 26 disaster.
Today, he wore a red and green Portugal jersey and sat in the stands beside retired AC Milan midfielder Rui Costa to watch the match in which Portugal defeated rivals Slovakia 2-0 in a World Cup qualifier.
Before the match started, Martunis went on to the pitch and shook hands and was kissed on the cheek by players from both sides as a sellout crowd of some 60,000 cheered and waved flags.
Among those in attendance were Portuguese President Jorge Sampaio and visiting East Timorese Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri.
FIFA president Sepp Blatter gave the boy a cheque for 40,000 euros ($65,000), a gift from Portugal’s soccer federation, which organised the boy’s trip.
It included funds raised from an auction of jerseys used by Portuguese soccer stars such as Real Madrid’s Luis Figo and Manchester United’s Cristiano Ronaldo, as well as direct donations from the players.
“Seeing his happiness today left me feeling happy too,” Costa told state television RTP after the match.
Martunis is believed to have survived on puddle water and dried noodles after he became separated from his family as they fled the fast-moving tsunami that left more than 217,000 dead and missing around the Indian Ocean.
Among the missing are Martunis’s mother and four siblings.
The boy, who is being accompanied on his trip by his father and a psychologist, has been in Portugal for a week and returns to Indonesia soon.
He has stayed mostly out of the public eye during his visit, but has met with members of the Portuguese squad on numerous occasions during his stay.
If you enjoyed this good news Subscribe to Good News Blog
Share this
To share this simply copy and paste one of the below URL's: