Man rescued 100hrs after quake

2008-05-16 17:10

Yinghua - Rescue crews pulled a man from a crushed building on Friday exactly 100 hours after China's quake, but only after amputating an arm and a leg in a desperate bid to save his life.

Rescue workers, army troops and a tense crowd of about 100 onlookers erupted in wild cheers and applause as Liu Deyun was pulled to safety after a 12-hour rescue effort that gripped this quake-pulverised town since early morning.

An AFP reporter witnessed Liu being pulled from the rubble of a collapsed factory building at 18:28 (10:28 GMT), 100 hours to the minute after China's biggest earthquake in a generation flattened huge areas of southwestern China.

"It was a miracle, but miracles happen through hard work and this happened through our hard work," said Zhao Hongxing, an army doctor who was involved in saving Liu.

"His first words were 'The army is great and the doctors are great'," Zhao said.

However, after Liu was whisked away in an ambulance, rescuers quickly went back to work digging for two more people in the same rubble.

"We must carry out our work immediately because there are two more people alive that we must pull out," Zhao said.

Amazing rescues

In a desperate scene repeated across areas destroyed by Monday's quake, rescue crews had burrowed delicately through the dangerously tottering remains of the structure to reach Liu, 50, who was pinned deep inside.

A number of quake victims have been pulled out of crushed buildings in Sichuan province since the 7.9-magnitude quake struck, with the amazing rescues captivating the nation.

They have provided drops of good news in an ocean of misery, with more than 50 000 people killed, according to government estimates.

Liu paid a high price for saving his life, although it was not immediately clear how much was amputated or which of his legs and arms were cut off.

The decision to amputate had been approved earlier by his desperate family.

"I just want him to live," his daughter Liu Yuan, 23, tearfully said earlier.

The amputations were done after Liu was given local anaesthetics, Zhao said. Liu was "awake and talking" throughout, he added.

"Under these conditions, saving his life was most important," Zhao said of the decision to amputate.

Liu was missing until Thursday night, when searching relatives heard him crying out from under the building, part of a sprawling fertiliser plant that has been completely destroyed.

"I was calling out, 'Father! Father!' And he responded: 'Yes'," his daughter said.

"He said 'I'm thirsty,' and I yelled back, "Father don't talk! You need your air! I will go and find somebody to rescue you!'"

Dangerous task

Rescuers began clawing through the rubble on Friday morning but faced a dangerous task.

The entire first floor, where Liu was believed to be, of the three-storey building gave way in the quake.

The remainder of the structure had collapsed downward and leaned awkwardly to one side, raising the ever-present risk of toppling over if rescuers disturbed the rubble.

The factory had employed about 3 000 people, company official Xie Kai said. About 200 of them have been confirmed dead and another 50 are still believed missing.

Six to seven people have been pulled alive from the rubble of the factory since Monday, Xie said.

- AFP