Go to: Moments before the tsunami leveled his village in Indonesia, Rizal Shah Putrah heard frantic calls of warning. But it was too late and he was swept out to sea. A miracle in the form of this up-rooted tree kept him alive. Surviving on food he found floating in the water, he clung on for eight days surrounded only by dead bodies as the currents carried him nearly 100 miles from shore. Spotted by sailors on a Japanese ship, he was taken to neighboring Malaysia.