Father says 'jungle woman' now 'normal human being'

Photo by: AFP

Rochom P’nhieng, known as the jungle girl, is shown waiting for treatment at a hospital in Ratanakkiri last month.

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She can speak out when she is hungry, thirsty and sleepy.

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CAMBODIA’S so-called “jungle woman”, who is said to have spent years living in a forest before making a celebrated re-emergence almost three years ago, has now become “a normal human being”, her father and a doctor said Tuesday.

Rochom P’nhieng caused a sensation in January 2007 when she was found in a Ratanakkiri jungle, naked, dirty and emaciated. Immediately, Sal Lou said the woman was his long-lost daughter, missing since 1989 when the girl, then 10 years old, vanished while herding buffalo.

Since then, however, Rochom P’nhieng has battled bouts of illness, often refusing to eat food. Now, Sal Lou says his daughter can understand basic phrases and even speak a few words in Khmer or the language of his ethnic Phnong tribe.

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