PORT KLANG, Malaysia (Reuters) - An Indonesian man swept out to sea by the Asian tsunami has described how he survived adrift for two weeks, living on coconuts and chancing upon a leaky boat and a raft.
Ari Afrizal, 21, spoke briefly to reporters late on Monday after arriving at
a Malaysian port on a container ship that had spotted him in the Indian Ocean at midday on Sunday, 14 days after the wave tore him from his homeland.
"I managed to survive as I ate the flesh of old coconuts for about 12 days. For three days I didn't get to eat anything," he said. "I gave up all hope of living."
Ari, clutching a plastic bag containing the rags that were his clothes at the time of the tsunami, wore a T-shirt and jeans donated by the ship's crew. Exhausted, he gave sketchy details of his ordeal before being taken by ambulance to hospital.
He said he was with friends building a house in the town of Calang in Aceh province when the wave struck. It pushed them inland before dragging Ari out to sea, clutching a piece of wood.
Ari said he had chanced upon a small leaking fishing boat on his second day in the water.
"The first day I clung to a piece of wood, the second day I retrieved a small fishing boat but it was leaking. I was in the small boat for four days before I managed to get on a raft," he said.
Ari said he waved frantically at several ships from the raft without success before the Arab-based Al Yamamah container ship came into view.
"I managed to whistle at the ship and then waved my hands. The ship sped on but it sounded the klaxon and I stood up. I thought the ship had left the area and I sat down and cried. But the ship returned and cheered me up," he said.
"I then waved at them as I knew I was safe."
Ari is the third Indonesian tsunami survivor to be rescued at sea.
A pregnant woman was rescued by a Malaysian tuna-fishing boat after clinging to a palm tree for five days. Another man drifted for eight days on an uprooted tree before a cargo ship found him.
More than 156,000 people were killed by the December 26 tsunami which followed a massive earthquake beneath the sea off Aceh province in the Indonesian archipelago.
Aceh accounted for almost all of Indonesia's 104,000 deaths.
- REUTERS
Man survived two weeks at sea after tsunami
PORT KLANG, Malaysia (Reuters) - An Indonesian man swept out to sea by the Asian tsunami has described how he survived adrift for two weeks, living on coconuts and chancing upon a leaky boat and a raft.
Ari Afrizal, 21, spoke briefly to reporters late on Monday after arriving at
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