Indonesian survivor recalls eight days at sea

An Indonesian man, who survived after being swept out to sea by the tsunami, spoke yesterday of his ordeal clinging to a tree surrounded by corpses in the Indian Ocean.

Rizal Shahputra was cleaning a mosque in Banda Aceh on December 26 when children rushed in to warn him of the tsunami. But the surging waves swept them all out to sea before they could escape.

Mr Shahputra, 23, was rescued on Monday after a ship spotted him floating 100 miles west of Aceh.

By the time he was brought back to Port Klang in Malaysia on Wednesday, he had spent more than a week surviving on rainwater and coconuts.

He said some of his fellow villagers had been with him on the tree, but had died one by one.

"At first, there were some friends with me," he said. "After a few days, they were gone... I saw bodies left and right. Everybody sank, my family members sank. There were bodies around me."

Apart from sunburn and cut legs Mr Shahputra was in astonishingly good health when rescued.

His ordeal mirrors that of an Indonesian woman who held on to a sago palm tree for five days after being swept from her home. She was rescued by a tuna ship and taken to hospital in Malaysia. Officials said she had been bitten by fish and was traumatised, but had kept herself alive by eating the palm's fruit and bark.

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEoKyaqpSerq96wqikaK%2Bfp7mle5FpZ25nmpa7cHyVaKusrZ6Wuqp%2Bj2lrZ6uRorewusSs