An Acehnese man rescued after eight days adrift in the Indian Ocean on an uprooted tree said on Wednesday Allah gave him the strength to stay alive after he was swept away by tsunamis.

Rizal Shahputra, from the Meubolah province in Indonesia's Aceh province which was hardest hit by the Dec 26 disaster, was plucked from the sea on Monday evening.

The Malaysian ship that rescued the 20-year-old, the MV Durban Bridge, docked at Port Klang here early on Wednesday.

Recounting his ordeal, Rizal was quoted by the Bernama news agency as saying he managed to cling onto the uprooted tree after being washed away by the giant waves while repairing a mosque in his village.

"At first, children in the area shouted... 'run brother, waves coming!'. I ran but I saw my parents were unable to save themselves. I saw many people around me being carried away by the waters and at that time, I held on to an uprooted tree to help me to float," he said.

Asked how he managed to cling on to the tree for more than a week, Rizal said the strength came from Allah who allowed him to stay alive.

"I did not eat anything. I also recited the prayers to withstand hunger," said Rizal.

A miracle

Rizal said two days before he was rescued another man who was afloat in the waters with him disappeared.

He suffered only minor cuts and swellings on both legs, and expected to recover in a week, said medical officers.

The captain of the MV Durban Bridge, Liu Xiang Ping, said it was a "miracle" to find Rizal, who was wearing a bright orange tee-shirt and dark green shorts.

"This is a miracle. He is very fortunate. My chief officer on duty spotted him waving at us as he stood on an uprooted tree floating on the water," he said.

The ship's chief officer Huang Wen Feng said Rizal told him that another vessel had seen him earlier but just passed him by.

Rizal is the second tsunami survivor rescued by Malaysian ships.

Last Friday, a Malaysian fishing boat rescued a 23-year-old Acehnese woman who had been drifting in the Indian Ocean for five days.Housewife Malawati, 23, sun-burnt and suffering fish bites, was clinging to an uprooted palm trunk which had clusters of fruit on it, helping her get through the ordeal.