Haitians say man was trapped by debris since earthquake

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — University of Miami doctors in Haiti are treating a man who, according to two other Haitians, had been trapped by debris since the Jan. 12 earthquake, but he may have been provided with food and water during the ordeal.

The account could not be confirmed by doctors at a university hospital or at a Salvation Army medical center in Port-au-Prince where the man, emaciated and suffering from dehydration, was brought by the two men Monday.

Nery Ynclan, a University of Miami media officer in Haiti, said the patient was in stable condition Tuesday and being treated for dehydration and malnutrition. He identified himself as Evans Monsigrace, 28, and his family gave doctors varying accounts of his ordeal, she said. He has normal kidney function, which suggests he had food and water at least for a week, Ynclan said.

In other news

• Parents of some of the children whom 10 U.S. missionaries tried to take out of Haiti told a judge Tuesday that they freely handed over the children, the Americans' lawyer said. The parents' testimony means that no law was broken, and "we can't talk anymore about trafficking of human beings," attorney Aviol Fleurant told reporters.

• The government raised the death toll to 230,000 from 212,000 and said more bodies remain uncounted. The new figure gives the quake the same death toll as the 2004 Asian tsunami.

• The United Nations warned that it will cut off shipments of free medicine beginning immediately to any Haitian hospitals that it finds are charging patients.

• The body of Maj. Kenneth Bourland, 37, a U.S. Air Force officer from Weston visiting at the time of the earthquake, was recovered Sunday from the Hotel Montana in Port-au-Prince by a military search team, according to a military news release.