Woman rescued after being trapped 9 hours

After nine hours of digging, Yue Anhong was finally rescued from her collapsed house in Longquan village of the quake-hit Ya’an, Sichuan province, on Saturday afternoon, Chengdu Business Daily reported on Sunday.

Yue was lucky to survive, but she lost her son, husband and father-in-law, who were also buried in the ruins but found dead after being dug out.

Just how hard the magnitude-7 earthquake hit the region became apparent for everyone in Longquan village on Saturday morning, but they helped each other without fear of the coming aftershocks.

When Yue’s house collapsed, more than 20 villagers came to help aid workers rescue the family, digging with shovels and by hand, and carrying rocks on their shoulders.

After four hours of digging, aid workers and the villagers dug out Yue’s husband Yang Shanbing, her son Yang Kai, and her father-in-law.

“When Yang Shanbing was rescued, he was out of breath with his left hand broken. But he was still holding his son, whose face was close to his father’s chest,” Yang Shanping, one of the aid villagers, cried.

At about 1 pm on Saturday, after Yue had been buried for five hours, rescuers finally heard her say “my foot is trapped”, and the sounds guided rescuers to her position.

After digging a hole, Yue held her hand through it, and a doctor injected glucose into her vein.

Four hours later, Yue was rescued after five pieces of wood were pulled away and a flight of stairs pressing on her leg was moved.

Yue’s mother-in-law and elder son weren’t inside the house when the earthquake occurred.

China Central Television reported on Sunday that as of 3 pm on Sunday, the quake claimed 186 lives, with 21 missing and 11,393 injured, according to the latest statistics released by the emergency response and management office of the Sichuan provincial government.