Heartbreak and hope as parents wait in vain

AS dawn breaks over Sri Lanka’s shores, dozens of parents come to the beach where huge waves seized their children a week ago.

“They believe their kids are alive and the sea will return them - one day,” UNICEF chief Carol Bellamy said yesterday after touring the island’s tsunami-devastated shore.

Children account for 40%, or 12,000, of Sri Lanka’s total death total of 30,000, officials say.