Michael Mangal had lost all hopes of rescue from the tiny Andaman and Nicobar island he was thrown back onto by disastrous tsunami waves on Dec. 26.
For almost twenty five days he lived on the devastated island. With no food to eat and no other survivors, only the hope of help kept him living.
Mangal, a Nicobarese tribesmen, lived on coconuts along the devastated coast until he was finally spotted and rescued by a relief team; he was waving a flag made from his tattered clothes.
Mangal told his rescuers how the tsunami waves had sucked him into the sea then threw him back onto the shore on that fateful day. He said he was destined to live.
After the tide receded, he walked back to his destroyed village on Pillopanja island, one of several tiny islands in the Andaman and Nicobar chain.
The village was deserted; it seemed no-one had survived the tragedy. He then climbed up a hilly tract and continued to live there, with coconuts his food for survival.
About 7,500 people, among them many Nicobarese, died in the tragedy. The island chain had a population of over 356,000. Numbering in the hundreds, only 36 of the islands were inhabited before the disaster.
Another survivor of the tsunami disaster , Uttam Tete was not so lucky even after he was rescued. Uttam lived in Lapathi village on Car Nicobar island until the deadly waves washed away the population.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese