An Indonesian girl who was swept away in the 2004 tsunami that hit her West Aceh village was found alive Wednesday and reunited with her family after seven years of search for her home.

Wati was eight years old when her mother, Yusniar, lost her grip on her at the height of the tsunami sweeping their village of Ujong Baroh in December 2004, the Indonesian news agency Antara reported. Her parents and siblings survived the tsunami that also devastated coastal villages in India and Sri Lanka killing hundreds of thousands of people, but she was never seen since then.

On Wednesday, a 15-year-old girl appeared at a café in Simpang Pelor in the nearby city of Meulaboh, capital of West Aceh regency. She told the café staff that she was looking for her home but did not know where it was. She told the staff she came from Banda Aceh, 245 kilometres northwest of Meulaboh, and only remembers the name of her grandfather, Ibrahim.

It was enough of a clue, as a person familiar with Ibrahim was present and immediately brought her to his home. The grandfather immediately recognised his granddaughter and called her parents.

Yusniar and husband Yusuf confirmed Wati as their long lost daughter through a small mole and a scar over her eyebrow she got when she was six.

Wati spent the last seven years searching for her home in different parts of Aceh province in northern Sumatra, according to Antara.