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| Saturday, 08 January 2005 |
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Teenager found in Andaman islands after 10 days on tree PORT BLAIR, India, Friday (AFP) A teenage boy clung to a tree for 10 days in India's remote Andaman islands chain without water or food after the tsunami before being plucked by a helicopter rescue crew, one of 17 survivors found Thursday. "I used to cry but after a few days tears would not come to my eyes. I had nothing to eat, no water to sip and there was no help," 14-year-old Murlitharan said in the Andamanese capital of Port Blair. Murlitharan was flown from the devastated island of Car Nicobar by the Indian air force on Wednesday and met by the Andaman and Nicobar island's chief administrator Ram Kapse after a full day's rest. "I did not know how to swim and so I clung to the tree for 10 days as sea waters did not recede from my village which is called Tapai Ming," the bruised teenager said. Air force rescuers said Murlitharan finally toppled off the tree where he sheltered for 10 days and fell into the waters Tuesday but was saved by a tribal woman who looked after him until they arrived. Murlitharan's parents are hospitalised in the southern coastal Indian city of Madras after their evacuation earlier this week from Car Nicobar which bore the brunt of the tsunami waves on December 26. Lieutinant General B.S. Thakur, leading a mammoth relief operation in the ravaged Andamans, said he was elated to rescue 17 survivors himself Thursday from the Katchal islands where more than 4,600 people are missing. |
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