The couple claiming tsunami Baby 81 were arrested today after they stormed into the Sri Lankan hospital where the baby is being treated.

They rushed to the hospital after a court ordered lengthy DNA tests to determine whether they are his mother and father.

The judge ordered that the baby stay in the hospital until the DNA tests are completed, a process which could take more than eight weeks.

The plight of Baby 81 - so named because he was the 81st admission to the hospital on December 26, the day the tsunami struck the Indian Ocean island - has become emblematic of the disaster's effect on families.

Swept away

In the days immediately after the tsunami, nine women claimed the boy as their own, though only one couple, Murugupillai and Jenita Jeyarajah, lodged a formal custody claim. They said documents proving the boy was theirs were swept away.

The Jeyarajahs had hoped to be granted custody of the baby at today's hearing in Kalmunai, although they had said they would submit to any tests the court ordered to prove their parentage.

When told that the child would be put back into hospital care until at least April 20, when the court will reconvene to hear the test results, Jenita beat her chest and cried out that she couldn't be away from her child that long.

The couple then walked about a half mile to the hospital with relatives and friends and forced their way into the paediatric ward where Baby 81 is being kept.