China quake: ‘I ate cigarettes and drank my urine’

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Agencies

Posted online: Saturday , May 17, 2008 at 02:18:45
Updated: Saturday , May 17, 2008 at 02:18:45

Beijing, May 17: A 46-year-old man who was rescued almost 100 hours after the devastating earthquake hit China, said he lived on cigarettes and paper napkins and drank his urine to survive those critical moments, state media reported.

"I searched my pockets and found half a pack of cigarettes and a few sheets of paper napkins. I broke the cigarettes into pieces and ate them. After the cigarettes, I turned to the paper napkins," Peng Zhijun was quoted as saying by the official Xinhua news agency.

He was dug out from the rubble of a collapsed building near a pharmaceutical company in Beichuan county, one of the worst-hit by the 7.8 magnitude temblor, the deadliest in the last three decades that, according to official figures, has killed over 22,000.

"I had to drink my urine. I managed to take off one of my shoes and used it to collect my urine," Peng, who fractured his left arm and suffered slight injuries in legs said, adding, ‘I had to save myself’.

"I encouraged more than 10 others to drink urine. But they did not listen to me. Unfortunately, they died one after the other," Peng lamented.

"So long as you persist with your belief, you can have one more minute for survival and one more chance of being rescued," Peng, who cried loudly after seeing rescuers, said, striking a philosophic note to his miraculous survival.

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Comments - 2

we had a same experience while chinese arrested my country poeple. by sonam on 19 May 2008

m not agree with those tibetan who pray for quake victims.is there few any few chinese pray for us while we tibetan having such problems?we don't need a real judge coz there is a real judge n its god haha..

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we had a same experience while chinese arrested my country poeple. by sonam on 19 May 2008

"On? (*) ?March,? around? ?one? ?hundred soldiers entered my house,? ?broke down five doors,? ?checked everything and threw it all on the floor and hit everyone present there.? ?It was like a robbery or burglary.? ?There were a lot of firearms and they were very rough with us.? ?I was arrested.? ?They took me with them,? ?with my thumbs tied behind my back,? ?very tightly,? ?resulting in the whole area being numb for the last two or three months? [?all of his left thumb?]?.? ?They treated us very harshly.? ?Talking to each other,? ?they said,? "?This is our chance?"?,? ?and they beat us.? ?At first I thought that they were going to kill me,? ?they hit my head a lot,? ?and skull can be broken easily.? ?It is not like the rest of the body.? ?They took me to prison.? ?For four days they didn't ask me anything,? ?they just threw me in.? ?They gave us half a steamed bun a day.? ?That's very small.? ?Everyone were very thirsty and a lot of people drank their urine? [?the detainees were not p

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