'I screamed for help whenever awake'

Mallaiah's survival was a miracle that gladdened hearts and brought prayers to everyone's lips. The 30-year-old labourer from Gejjenahalli battled death, and crawled out with a fractured hand.

This increase reflects ahigher net interest margin and one additional day in the quarter, partiallyoffset by a decline in average earning assets. Additionally, we continued to decrease controllable operatingnoninterest expenses, although credit-related costs did move upward as wecontinue to aggressively recognize and address problem assets." Net Interest Income and Average Balance SheetSecond quarter 2009 tax-equivalent net interest income increased $825,000 to$87.0 million from $86.2 million in first quarter 2009. In the quarter, operatingrevenues increased linked-quarter with increases in both net interest income andnoninterest income. Our net interest margin improved, up 13 basis points, as aresult of better pricing and mix improvements for loans and deposits.Noninterest income increased due to stronger mortgage banking income. Weaccelerated our efforts to have a smaller, more focused balance sheet byreducing non-core assets through sales of indirect loans and shared nationalcredits. Lynn Harton, President and Chief Executive Officer of The SouthFinancial Group.

"However, we continue to be proactive and realistic inaddressing problem assets. While credit will remain challenging, we haveprepared for it by building our capital position and loan loss reserves. Inparticular, we fortified our common capital base by the successful execution ofthe first phase of our capital plan." Harton continued, "We are also carrying out our plan to build a stronger corebanking franchise focused on relationship banking. The net loss was primarily driven by credit provisions andrelated costs. Excluding non-operating items, the second quarter 2009 operatingloss available to common shareholders totaled $101.9 million, or $(1.12) perdiluted share. Reconciliations of GAAP-reported results to operating results andyear-to-date results are provided in the attached financial highlights.