An elderly Sri Lankan man was found alive under the debris of a southern town nearly two weeks after it was decimated by giant tsunami waves, a newspaper reported on Sunday.
The man, identified only as Sirisena, was found semi-conscious on Saturday under the remains of a shop in the historic seaside town of Galle, said the Sunday Times, which splashed the man’s picture on its front page.
It said the man was suffering from malnutrition, dehydration and had early symptoms of pneumonia. He was too bewildered to explain how he had survived, the newspaper said.
Rescue workers have for days found only bloated and rotting corpses as they excavate mounds of rubble from what were once Sri Lanka’s coastal towns and resorts.
Hospital officials in Galle, which was devasted by the island’s worst natural disaster, were not immediately available for comment.
Giant waves crashed into Sri Lanka’s southern, eastern and northern coastline on Dec. 26, killing over 30,000 people. Nearly 5,000 others are still missing, and hope of finding them has all but disappeared.
