Tsunami survivor Acehnese Rizal Shahputra stands on the tree branches and waves to a cargo ship after being spotted. Photo: AP
Posted on 01/05/2005 4:03:10 PM PST by nickcarraway
The tree was a lifeline from God. A 20-year-old Indonesian tsunami victim miraculously survived eight days in the ocean by clinging to the branches of an uprooted tree, he said yesterday after his rescue.
Rizal Sahputra was plucked from the ocean by a Malaysian cargo ship Monday night, 100 miles offshore from his village on the northern tip of Sumatra island.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Tsunami survivor Acehnese Rizal Shahputra stands on the tree branches and waves to a cargo ship after being spotted. Photo: AP
Goes to show, no matter how bad it seems, don't ever give up.
Tree hugging finally does somebody some good.
One question only..................
How long can one survive with out fresh water? (Sea water doesn't count)
I was thinking the same thing. I'm surprised to see him have enough strength to stand & wave! God bless the survivors.
That's luck, God's grace and courage under adversity.
Praise God.
Good one!
I believe there were some fairly torrential rains a few days ago. Probably enought fresh water to keep the poor fellow alive. Amazing story. Over one hundred miles out at sea.
Heard a news blurb about him--he drank rain water and coconut milk from drifting coconuts.
During WWII, a Chinese sailor who was the cook on a ship that was sunk in the Pacific, survived for several months in a lifeboat by himself. He had no supplies on board when the ship sunk. He survived by catching rainwater and eating marine growth off the side of the boat and was able to stand up when he was finally rescued.
Several years ago, I sailed from England to the States on a 36ft sailboat. When we got into tropical waters, we always saw things floating in the water with all sorts of marine life attached to it, to include small crabs and such. This could have been eaten if need be. Also, we were able to catch more rain water than we could drink in that area. We had plenty of food and other water on board, but after 28 days at sea during the crossing from the Canary Islands to the BVI, we ended up with more fresh water than we had when we left. We ate the food we had on board but we could have fished if we wanted to. On other trips, I did fish in the open ocean with fair results. However in a pinch, we could have eaten the growth like the Chinese guy. The main thing is just don't give up. On my trip, we had two people we had to put ashore because they couldn't hack the trip mentally. The first part, we had some pretty rough storms. One Force 12 and two Force 9's.
Interesting story. And informative. Thank you.
I don't recommend making the crossing in the winter time like we did. Bad decission on my part.
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