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Deutsche Presse-Agentur

October 4, 2006 Wednesday 5:25 AM EST

LENGTH: 388 words

HEADLINE: Vietnam's miraculous "parachute boy" survives typhoon's wild
ride

DATELINE: Hanoi

Residents of typhoon-ravaged central Vietnam are
taking hope in the amazing story of a baby boy who survived when he was
ripped out of his house and sent flying along with the home's roof.

Le Ngoc Dong, 13 months old, was blown over a three-story school before
landing in a pond 150 meters away, his family says. His fall was
cushioned by a bed of floating plants that also kept him from sinking
until his father plucked him out.

"It's a miracle," his father, Le Van Vinh, a 35-year-old welder in the
city of Danang, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa by telephone.
"My son is very lucky. My family is very lucky."

The infant has gained the nickname "Parachute Boy" after his wild ride.

"Everyone here knows his story," said a doctor in Danang's Thanh Khe
Hospital, who said the boy sustained only a slight head injury.
"He's very lucky he fell into the plants."

The baby was sleeping in a cradle hung from a roof beam in his
small home Sunday morning as his family and some friends sheltered from
typhoon Xangsane, which killed at least 42 people in Vietnam and has
left tens of thousands homeless.

When the 117-kilometre-per-hour winds tore the roof off the house, the
cradle and little Dong went flying with it. His father and two friends
immediately ran out and saw the roof and the cradle fly over a nearby
school as they gave chase.

A neighbour, Vo Van Hoa, told local Thanh Nien newspaper he also saw the
strange sight of the flying roof and cradle.

"When the roof was in the air, it broke into two parts," Hoa told the
paper. "One part fell down on the school and the other part flew over
the school and into the pond behind it."

When Vinh and his friends caught up, they found baby Dong's cradle in a
bamboo stand and the baby himself sinking slowly in the pond, slowed
down by the aquatic plants known as "duckweed."

The boy retrieved, everyone returned to ride out the rest of the storm
in the now-roofless house, which eventually collapsed, though no one
else was injured.

Now homeless, Dong's father said the whole family still feels like
celebrating.

"My house has collapsed and we're staying with relatives while I
rebuild," Vinh said. "But I will hold a party to celebrate my son's
miracle survival."
Oct 0406 0525 GMT