Banda Aceh: Remarkable stories of survival emerged yesterday even as authorities all but gave up hope of finding anyone else alive after Asia's killer earthquake and tsunamis. US troops delivering first aid to a village along the devastated western coast of Sumatra island yesterday rescued about 50 survivors including many so weak they couldn't walk or talk delivering them by Navy helicopter to a hospital in Banda Aceh.
In Malaysia, a 23-year-old Indonesian woman who clung to a sago tree for five days after the tsunami was delivered to a hospital by a tuna ship that picked her up last week, an industry official said. On Sunday, Indonesian fisherman Tengku Sofyan was found, wasted by dehydration and hunger, underneath the wreckage of his boat, which was thrown ashore and upturned over him in the December 26 tsunami on Sumatra. "He's in extremely fragile condition, especially mentally," said Dr Irwan Azwar, who treated Sofyan. And four Indonesian fishermen were found alive on Saturday in the Andaman Sea, six days after their boat was pushed out to sea by the tsunami, officials said yesterday. It was also reported that an 18-month old Kazakh boy was found alive in Khao Lak on January 1, almost a week after a tsunami devastated Indian Ocean shores. |