Cambodian Rochom Soy (L), would-be mother of Rochom P'ngieng takes care of her at Oyadao district in Rottanakiri province in 2007. Known as Cambodia's "jungle woman", Rochom P'ngieng, whose case gripped the country after she apparently spent 18 years living in a forest, has been hospitalised after refusing food, her father and a doctor said Friday.(AFP/File/Tang Chhin Sothy)
The woman believed to be Rochom P'ngieng, Cambodia's "jungle woman", is pictured here in her house in a remote jungle village in Rattanakiri province in 2007. The woman, whose story gripped the country after she apparently spent 18 years living in a forest, was hospitalised after refusing food, her father and a doctor said. (AFP/File/AFP)
FILE - In this file photo taken on Jan. 19, 2007, a woman believed to be Rochom P'ngieng, dubbed the 'jungle woman,' sits in her home in Oyadao, Rattanak Kiri province about 660 kilometers, (410 miles) north east of Phnom Penh, Cambodia. P'ngieng, dubbed the 'jungle woman' after emerging, naked and unable to speak from the wilds of northeastern Cambodia two years ago, is sick and apparently suffering from mental illness, a doctor said Friday, Oct. 30, 2009. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith, File)
FILE - In this file photo taken Saturday, Jan. 20, 2007, a woman believed to be Rochom P'ngieng, dubbed the 'jungle woman,' holds a wooden pole looking away at her home in Oyadao, Rattanak Kiri province, about 660 kilometers (410 miles) northeast of Phnom Penh, Cambodia. P'ngieng, dubbed the 'jungle woman' after emerging, naked and unable to speak from the wilds of northeastern Cambodia two years ago, is sick and apparently suffering from mental illness, a doctor said Friday, Oct. 30, 2009. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith, File)
Friday, October 30, 2009
(Posted by CAAI News Media)
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — A woman dubbed the "jungle woman" after emerging naked and unable to speak from the wilds of northeastern Cambodia two years ago is sick and apparently suffering from mental illness, a doctor said Friday.
Hing Phan Sokhunthea, chief of Rattanakiri province hospital, said the woman, believed to be 28-year-old Rochom P'ngieng, was taken home Friday after four days in a hospital even though she remained weak and the cause of her nervous distress remained unclear.
She was brought from the jungle in early 2007 after being caught trying to steal food from a villager. Her case attracted international attention after a local family claimed she was their daughter, who was 8 years old when she disappeared in 1988 while herding buffalo in a remote area.
However, the relationship was never proven, and it was never established how she could have survived in the wild for 19 years. Some villagers suspected she was not Rochom P'ngieng, but someone else suffering from mental problems who had been lost in the jungle for a much briefer time.
The man who claims to be her father, Sal Lou, said Friday by telephone that the woman still does not speak any intelligible language.
He said his daughter was hospitalized Monday after she refused to eat any rice for almost a month.
"She was very sick and her condition looks worse than when she was first found," he said. "She is very skinny now."
He said he decided to take her back home after her condition didn't improve and she kept trying to run away.
The Rattanakiri doctor said a preliminary diagnosis found she suffered from a nervous condition.
"We wanted her to stay longer in the hospital, so that we could learn more about her mental state, but her father took her back home without letting us know," said Hing Phan Sokunthea.
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