Man lived on coconuts for two weeks

Jocelyn Gecker, Banda Aceh

His prayers were answered when a container ship, Al Yamamah, spotted him on Sunday, hauled him aboard and brought him to Malaysia last night.

Ari, 21, was working on a construction site in the Indonesian province of Aceh on St Stephen’s Day when the tsunami swept him and his friends out to sea. “I recall seeing four of my friends hanging onto wood but we drifted away from each other ” Ari said. He said he saw many bodies and debris floating around him.