PORT BLAIR, Jan 6: A teenage boy clung to a tree for 10 days in India's remote Andaman islands chain without water or food after the tsunami before being plucked by a helicopter rescue crew, one of 17 survivors found on Thursday.

"I used to cry but after a few days tears would not come to my eyes. I had nothing to eat, no water to sip and there was no help," 14-year-old Murlitharan said in Port Blair.

Murlitharan was flown from the devastated island of Car Nicobar by the Indian air force on Wednesday. "I did not know how to swim and so I clung to the tree for 10 days as sea waters did not recede from my village which is called Tapai Ming," the bruised teenager said.

Air force rescuers said Murlitharan finally toppled off the tree where he sheltered for 10 days and fell into the waters Tuesday but was saved by a tribal woman who looked after him. -AFP