The Hindu : Front Page : Indonesian survivor found after a week

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jan 03, 2005

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Front Page

Indonesian survivor found after a week

BANDA ACEH, JAN. 2. An Indonesian fisherman was found trapped under his boat and severely dehydrated on Sunday, a week after a devastating earthquake and tsunami, officials said.

The 24-year-old man, identified as Tengku Sofyan, was rushed to a hospital in Banda Aceh, where doctors gave him intravenous fluids. He could barely speak and had cuts on his body, doctors said.

"He's in an extremely fragile condition, especially mentally," said Dr. Irwan Azwar, who treated the man.

Witnesses said Mr. Sofyan was at sea when the tsunami hit on December 26.

His boat was tossed onto the beach at Lampulo and he was trapped for a week and could not eat or drink anything, they said. The news came just hours after the head of Indonesia's search and rescue team, Lamsar Sipahutar, said hopes of finding anyone alive had become "very bleak."

"There is very little chance of finding survivors after seven days," he said. "We are about to stop the search-and-rescue operations. If you survived the earthquake, you probably were killed by tsunami." — AP

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