Society

Woman saved after 36 hours from debris

By Peng Yining and Shen Gang (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-08-10 07:39

Yang Jinfeng (left), 71, a survivor of the mudslide disaster. [DU LIANYI/ CHINA DAILY]

ZHOUQU, Gansu - Rescuers searching for survivors in this mudslide-flattened Northwest China county were spurred on Monday when a 71-year-old woman was pulled alive from the debris and rubble.

The woman, named Yang Jinfeng, was rescued at 9:50 am from a half-destroyed building in the county seat of Zhouqu, 36 hours after a massive mudslide swept through the county, a spokesman with the emergency rescue headquarters said.

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The woman was stuck on the first floor of a two-story building. Footage from State broadcaster CCTV shows rescuers cutting through a wall on the first floor of the building and pulling Yang out. The whole process took about one hour.

Yang was sent to a nearby tent set up as a temporary medical site and given treatment by a medical team of the People's Liberation Army.

Yang, whose eyes were covered with a white cloth as a shield from the light, was in a stable condition Monday and able to talk.

"I'm OK but I'm thirsty. I want water," she said, in a fragile voice.

She told China Daily that mud flowed into the house through a window and door and that she could not move in the closed space with her legs mired in mud.

Yang said she is from a family of seven. Her daughter Wu Yulan, 50, was looking after Yang in the tent.

"Our family is lucky because we did not lose anyone, but all of our homes and assets were destroyed in the landslides," Wu told China Daily.