Darmi Ali, who had remarried after also losing his wife when the huge waves hit the Indonesian province of Aceh in 2004, said he was "overjoyed".

"I lost my three daughters, and now they have been replaced by three other girls," he said.

Aceh was nearest to the earthquake's epicentre and lost 130,000 people, with half a million people made homeless.

Mr Ali, a 43-year-old police officer from Banda Aceh, described trying to save one of his daughters when the tsunami hit.

"I gripped onto one of my daughters but the tsunami took her away. I was also knocked over," he was quoted by the Associated Press as saying.

"I tried to grab her, but I was not successful."

The three babies were to remain in hospital until they gain weight.

"They can be taken home when they weigh 2kg (4.4lb) because with that weight they can adapt to the outside environment," midwife Asma Sulaiman said.

She said the triplets' 29-year-old mother, Maryati, was also doing well.

"After my female triplets were born, all the worries have gone and turned to happiness," Mr Ali said.