She was seen as a “miracle baby” after being born in a tree which her mother had climbed to escape flooding, but nearly 26 years on Mozambican Rosita Salvador Mabuiango has died after a long illness, her sister told the BBC.

The sight of the newborn and her mother being winched to safety by helicopter amid the deluged landscape became one of the defining images of the Mozambique floods of 2000 – the country’s worst ever.

Reflecting on Rosita’s life, President Daniel Chapo described her as a symbol for girls in the country.

In February 2000, hundreds died and hundreds of thousands of others were forced from their homes after the Limpopo river burst its banks in southern Mozambique.

Rosita’s mother, Carolina Cecilia Chirindza, was one of those caught up in the crisis.

“It was a Sunday afternoon about four o’clock, and the waters began rising,” the Red Cross quoted her as saying later in 2000.

“The water was coming right up to the house, and was getting stronger and stronger, so like everyone else in the village, we headed for the trees.

“I put my two small children on my back and tried to climb up. It was very difficult.

“There were 15 of us all together, and we were there for four days. We prayed and prayed.

“We had nothing to eat, and the children cried and cried, but we could do nothing for them.”

In the early hours of Wednesday morning, Carolina went into labour and shortly afterwards she and the newborn were spotted by a South African military helicopter that was helping in the rescue operations.

The two became symbols of the aftermath of the disaster, and they travelled to the US later in 2000 to speak to Congress and help raise awareness about what had happened.

On Monday, confirming the news of Rosita’s death at 25, her sister Celia Salvador told the BBC that she had “passed away after a prolonged illness. I’m extremely sad. She died of an illness I am unable to explain what it was.”

According to other family sources, Rosita had been battling against the blood disorder anaemia for years. As a result of the worsening of her condition, she had been in hospital for more than two weeks, where she eventually died on Monday morning.

“My God. Very bad news. My condolences to the bereaved family,” the president told the BBC.

“She was a symbol for girls in Mozambique. That’s why, I extend my condolences to all the Mozambican people, especially to Mozambican girls.”

Rosita grew up with her family and graduated from high school in the same rural area – Chibuto – where she was born. She herself had a daughter five years ago.

Political analyst Charles Mangwiro described her death as a “wake-up call for the government to improve service delivery in the entire health system in the country.

“You cannot expect to survive when health professionals complain every day about unpaid salaries for months and about the shortage of essentials like protective materials and antibiotics.”

Despite recruiting more health workers in recent years, analysts continue to describe an overstretched health system short of basic drugs and equipment.

Chibuto Mayor Henriques Machava told the press that conversations were under way with the family to formalise the funeral arrangements, which, according to him, would be taken care of by the municipality.