Briton & Thai Mother Reunited After 54 Year Separation

PHUKET - A Thai-born Briton is finally reunited with her mother after 54 years of separation in Phuket province today.

Kimberley, 54, and her mother, Yokluen Chankaew, 79, hugged each other upon their meeting this afternoon, which was arranged by local administrators.

According to Kimberley, she was born in Ta Kua Pa district of Phang Nga district in 1960 to Yokluen and an Australian manager of a mine in the province. Birth certificate provided by Kimberley identified her as Tukta Chankaew, the Thai name given to her at the time of birth by her parents.

Yokluen said a British engineer who worked for the mine and his wife later asked to adopt her from her parents when she was four years old. Yokluen told reporters she decided to give up Kimberley, then known as Tukta, to the engineer because she was in poverty.

"I thought I could not raise her up into a comfortable life," Yokluen said, adding that the British engineer and his wife, who were childless, soon left the country for the United Kingdom, and she never heard from them again.

Yokluen said she was surprised to be told by a local official that she was going to meet Kimberley again after over 50 years of silence. "I didn't expect at all that I would see my daughter again," she said emotionally.