PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — There's skepticism among some health workers about the tale of a rice vendor surviving 27 days trapped under the rubble of a flea market following Haiti's earthquake.
Aid workers say no one could live that long without water. The only sources for the story had been the two Haitian men who brought the dehydrated and malnourished man to a clinic.
But then the patient became lucid enough to tell his tale. And while his account has not been independently verified, doctors now say the 28-year-old man could have survived on water and possibly some fruit beneath the rubble.
The man told doctors he had just finished selling rice for the day when the quake hit. He said he was trapped in an area where food and drink vendors were working.
Doctors at a field hospital say they believe him.
Officials say the vendor is in stable condition and being treated for dehydration and malnutrition.
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<<APPHOTO PAP144 (02/09/10)>>
: In this photo provided by michaelthemaven.com, a man who identified himself as Evans Monsigrace, 28, is attended at the Salvation Army medical center after being brought in by two men in Port-au-Prince, Monday, Feb. 8, 2010. University of Miami doctors working in Haiti are treating Monsigrace, who, according to two Haitian men who brought him, had been trapped in rubble since the Jan. 12 earthquake, and he may have been provided food and water during his reported ordeal. The men's account could not be confirmed by doctors at a university field hospital or at a Salvation Army medical center where Monsigrace, emaciated and suffering from dehydration, was first brought.
<<APPHOTO PAP142 (02/09/10)>>
: In this photo provided by michaelthemaven.com, a man who identified himself as Evans Monsigrace, 28, sits at the Salvation Army medical center in Port-au-Prince, Monday, Feb. 8, 2010. University of Miami doctors working in Haiti are treating Monsigrace, who, according to two Haitian men who brought him, had been trapped in rubble since the Jan. 12 earthquake, and he may have been provided food and water. The men's account could not be confirmed by doctors at a university field hospital or at a Salvation Army medical center where Monsigrace, emaciated and suffering from dehydration, was first brought.
