Treating an emaciated 28-year-old Haitian man yesterday, doctors said they believed he survived 27 days buried in rubble after the January 12 earthquake.

The man, named as Evans Monsigrace, told doctors at a University of Miami field hospital in Port-au-Prince that he had been buried by the quake while cooking rice.

"Amazingly he got out after 27 days. It's amazing and we are proud to have him here," said Dushyantha Jayaweera, the chief medical officer at the centre.

Dr Jayaweera said his patient was stable."Today he is alert, oriented," he said, "his prognosis is very good".

It was not immediately possible to verify Mr Monsigrace's claim and there was no concrete explanation for how he survived so long if he was trapped under the rubble without access to water.