Holding on for dear life

(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-05-21 09:00

179 hours: Rescued after amputation

Earlier Tuesday, Ma Yuanjiang, a power plant executive, was rescued at around 00:50 am from the rubble in Wenchuan County of southwest China's Sichuan Province, nearly 179 hours after the May 12 earthquake.

He was surprisingly able to speak after being rescued, and shortly after he began to eat a little, said Wu Geng, Ma's colleague and also head of the plant, who was at the rescue spot.

Ma was at a meeting when the magnitude 8.0 earthquake ravaged the plant office building, and he was trapped in the debris of the second floor, which has presented huge difficulties for rescuers.

The 31-year-old survivor was pulled out by a Shanghai rescue team from the debris of an office building at a flattened power plant, after more than 30 hours' efforts.

Rescuers found Ma in the afternoon on May 18 when they were digging a hole trying to reach Yu Jinhua, a colleague of Ma.

Followed by an amputation operation, Yu was rescued at about 6:00 p.m. on May 18. Rescuers then turned to Ma and sent sweetened water to him through a straw.

Ma was receiving treatment at the temporary clinic of the Chongqing No. 3 Military Hospital, and will be sent by air to a hospital in Chengdu.

Ma, who is a power generation department deputy director of the Yingxiu Bay Hydro-Power Plant, is the only survivor saved so far on Tuesday.

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