The Japanese military Saturday uncovered a survivor in the rubble of his house in the aftermath of the country's massive earthquake and tsunami, but there are conflicting reports as to whether the man had remained in the house since the devastating earthquake and tsunami eight days ago.
Military search teams pulled a young man from a crushed house in Japan's disaster zone, NHK reported, but a news report later said he returned there a week after the quake and tsunami struck and that he was trapped only for one day.
The young man, found in the rubble in Kesennuma city, was too weak to talk and was immediately transferred to a nearby hospital, said a military official. The official, who declined to give his name because he was not authorized to speak to the media, had no other details.
Kyodo, the Japanese news agency, said the man was in his 20s. In a later report, Kyodo quoted his family as saying that he had been separated from them after the March 11 quake and had stayed in a shelter before returning home Friday.
A separate military official, who would also would not provide her name, said she could not confirm the Kyodo report and had no other details.
The National Police Agency raised the death toll Saturday, reporting that 7,197 people had died from the magnitude 9.0 quake-- exceeding the deaths from the 1995 Kobe earthquake. Another 10,905 were reported missing, the police agency said.
Police said more than 452,000 people made homeless by the quake and tsunami were staying in schools and other shelters, as supplies of fuel, medicine and other necessities ran short.
The Associated Press and NewsCore contributed to this report.
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