By Anthony Deutsch and Marta Fiorin
s-HERTOGENBOSCH, Netherlands, Aug 12 (Reuters) - Meena and Minal were left as infants at orphanages in India and grew up in different adoptive families in the Netherlands, just a short drive apart. Now, 40 years later, a DNA test has shown that the childhood friends are biological sisters.
Growing up, neither was aware that they had a sister. Then, as teenagers in 1996, while living just 100 miles (130 km) apart, they crossed paths at a gathering for adopted children and felt an unusually strong connection.
Their friends were amazed by their likeness and the girls swapped addresses. In correspondence, they jokingly called each other 'sis' before losing touch for 15 years.
"For years, I felt a hole in my heart," said Meena Geltink, 43, a mother of three, struggling to put words to her overwhelming feeling of joy. "It's like a missing puzzle piece has been found."
Geltink told her sister on Tuesday at an emotional reunion in the Netherlands: "When I see you, it's like I'm home."
Since discovering their relationship through a MyHeritage DNA test in April, which yielded a rare 100% match, the sisters spend hours every day talking and messaging.
Minal Tijssen, 44, said she had no record of any birth relatives. She felt loved growing up with Dutch parents and siblings, but at the same time described a deep loneliness.
Tears, hugs and laughter punctuated their first meeting since finding out they are related, followed by their first selfie together.
Tijssen, who lives in France with her partner and two sons, was sitting on the couch in April when a pop-up on her phone said her DNA results were in. "'Mina: Sister.' I couldn't believe it."
"We were friends before we were sisters," Tijssen said. "We were sisters the whole time, but we didn't know."
At first, Tijssen didn't realise it was the same teenage girl who had clung to her when they first met 30 years ago. It only sank in when she found her on social media and looked at photos. "Now it's for real."
(Reporting by Anthony Deutsch and Marta Fiorin; Editing by Janet Lawrence)