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13 days under rubble: Old man still alive
By Asif Fuard in Galle
 A miraculous story of survival under the tsunami catastrophe rubble has surfaced 13 days after the disaster and when officials said they had given up hope of finding any more survivors with cranes or sniffer dogs trying to recover only bodies.

Yesterday, an elderly man was found alive in a semi-conscious state -- dehydrated and wearing a 13-day beard -- under the rubble of a showroom at Pettigalawatta in Galle town, rescue soldiers said.

The man in his late sixties has been identified only as Sirisena. Warded at the Karapitiya hospital, he is suffering from a broken arm and early symptoms of pneumonia, hospital officials said.

The man, who is on saline, has so far not been able to tell how he survived for so many days. Dr. Lalith Perera of the Karapitiya hospital said the man was suffering from malnutrition and was being treated at the emergency unit.
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