An Egyptian who lost all contact with her family after moving to the Syrian desert 40 years ago as a servant girl has finally re-found her relatives, airport authorities said Saturday.
Zeinab Hanafi Abdel Hamid, now 51, was to meet with her family members Saturday at the Cairo airport.
In 1959, Zeinab became a servant for the family of a Syrian officer who was stationed in Cairo during the two countries' three-year union as the United Arab Republic.
When the republic was dissolved in 1961, Zeinab left with the officer's family for the Syrian desert and lost all contact with her family.
She was found after three years of efforts by her nephew, who contacted Foreign Minister Amr Moussa and asked for the help of Egypt's embassy in Damascus, the government's newspaper Al-Ahram said.
When she was found, Zeinab was caring for a paralyzed relative of the Syrian officer, who has since died.
Zeinab had been in Syria illegally for four decades and no longer held any national identification. Syrian authorities showed leniency, however, and the Egyptian embassy issued her a passport - CAIRO (AFP)
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