CAMBODIA: A woman who disappeared in the jungle as a child has apparently been found after living in the wild for 19 years.

The woman is believed to be Rochom P'ngieng, 27, but as she can't speak any intelligible language, details of her saga have been difficult to confirm.

However, the man who claims to be her father, Sal Lou, said: "When I saw her, she was naked and walking in a bending-forward position like a monkey. She was bare-bones skinny.

"She was shaking and picking up grains of rice from the ground to eat. Her eyes were red like tigers' eyes."

Sal Lou, 45, a village policeman, said he recognised his daughter by a scar on her right arm, a result of a cut from a knife she played with when she was young.

The woman was found last Saturday in Oyadao district in Rattanakiri province.

Rochom P'ngieng, then eight years old, disappeared in 1988 when she was herding buffalo in a remote jungle area, said Chea Bunthoeun, a deputy provincial police chief. The province is about 200 miles north-east of Cambodia's capital Phnom Penh.

Mao San, police chief of Oyadao district, described the woman as "half-human and half-animal".

Since being found, the woman has had difficulty adjusting to normal life.

Sal Lou said: "When she is hungry, she pats her stomach as a signal.

"If she is not sleeping, she just sits and glances left and right, left and right."

Police are now trying to gather more information on the 19-year mystery.

Authorities want medical experts to take DNA samples from the parents and the woman to see if they match.

The parents have given verbal consent for such a test.