Nine saved 38 days after tsunami
NEW DELHI, India (AP) -- Nine survivors of the December 26 tsunami have been discovered by police in a forest on India's remote Campbell Bay island after spending 38 days wandering across villages flattened by the killer waves.
The nine belong to the Nicobarese tribe and include five men, two women and two girls, Inspector Shaukat Hussain told The Associated Press Wednesday by telephone from Campbell Bay, the only town in Great Nicobar, India's southernmost island.
The island, located in the Andaman and Nicobar archipelago, is also known as Campbell Bay, after its only town. It is just 225 kilometers (140 miles) from Banda Aceh, the worst-hit area in Indonesia.
Many of the island's villages were wiped out.
"They were sitting in the forest when we saw them, and they just ran to us, without saying anything," said Hussain. "They seemed happy, yes, but there was no hugging and tears and shouting in joy and all that."
The oldest survivor was a 65-year-old man; the youngest an 11-year-old girl, he said.
Two of the survivors were severely dehydrated and were hospitalized. The other seven were sent to a relief camp.
"They seemed weak but OK. They said they had eaten coconuts, boars and wild shoots. They hunted to stay alive," Hussain said. "We found them not too far from where we found a dead body and cremated it."
Hussain was leading a police team to look for bodies. Twelve kilometers (eight miles) into the island's hinterlands, the survivors were spotted, he said.
The tribespeople were all residents of the island's Pillowbhabhi village on the western coast.
"When the tsunami came, they had climbed on to a hill. They kept walking, they got lost, and were wandering in the forest, resting, then walking again," Hussain said. "They traveled from the western side of the island to the eastern side until we saved them."
The Nicobarese, the largest of the indigenous tribes living in the archipelago, are used to a meager existence of foraging and hunting. However, they suffered greatly from the tsunami because they lived along the coast.
The overall tsunami death toll Wednesday ranged from about 158,000 to 178,000 across 11 nations hit by the disaster, reflecting separate agency tolls in Indonesia and Sri Lanka. With estimates of up to 142,000 missing, more than a quarter-million people may have been lost.
At least 10,749 people were killed by the tsunami in India, and at least 5,640 are missing, most of them on the remote Andaman and Nicobar archipelago.
Find this article at:
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/02/02/tsunami.india.ap/index.html
NEW DELHI, India (AP) -- Nine survivors of the December 26 tsunami have been discovered by police in a forest on India's remote Campbell Bay island after spending 38 days wandering across villages flattened by the killer waves.
The nine belong to the Nicobarese tribe and include five men, two women and two girls, Inspector Shaukat Hussain told The Associated Press Wednesday by telephone from Campbell Bay, the only town in Great Nicobar, India's southernmost island.
The island, located in the Andaman and Nicobar archipelago, is also known as Campbell Bay, after its only town. It is just 225 kilometers (140 miles) from Banda Aceh, the worst-hit area in Indonesia.
Many of the island's villages were wiped out.
"They were sitting in the forest when we saw them, and they just ran to us, without saying anything," said Hussain. "They seemed happy, yes, but there was no hugging and tears and shouting in joy and all that."
The oldest survivor was a 65-year-old man; the youngest an 11-year-old girl, he said.
Two of the survivors were severely dehydrated and were hospitalized. The other seven were sent to a relief camp.
"They seemed weak but OK. They said they had eaten coconuts, boars and wild shoots. They hunted to stay alive," Hussain said. "We found them not too far from where we found a dead body and cremated it."
Hussain was leading a police team to look for bodies. Twelve kilometers (eight miles) into the island's hinterlands, the survivors were spotted, he said.
The tribespeople were all residents of the island's Pillowbhabhi village on the western coast.
"When the tsunami came, they had climbed on to a hill. They kept walking, they got lost, and were wandering in the forest, resting, then walking again," Hussain said. "They traveled from the western side of the island to the eastern side until we saved them."
The Nicobarese, the largest of the indigenous tribes living in the archipelago, are used to a meager existence of foraging and hunting. However, they suffered greatly from the tsunami because they lived along the coast.
The overall tsunami death toll Wednesday ranged from about 158,000 to 178,000 across 11 nations hit by the disaster, reflecting separate agency tolls in Indonesia and Sri Lanka. With estimates of up to 142,000 missing, more than a quarter-million people may have been lost.
At least 10,749 people were killed by the tsunami in India, and at least 5,640 are missing, most of them on the remote Andaman and Nicobar archipelago.
Find this article at:
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/02/02/tsunami.india.ap/index.html