Rescue & Aid
Teachers dig by hand to pull students from ruins of school
By WANG YAN (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-04-16 07:46
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BEIJING - Teachers at a primary school in Yushu had to dig with their bare hands through concrete ruins to rescue their students trapped below.
Sixty-one students at Yushu No 3 primary school had been saved as of Wednesday night, but 34 died before being found, the Youth Times reported on Thursday.
"The other 27 students gathered on the campus playground, but the wounded kids couldn't get immediate treatment. We just don't have such medical supplies here," said school principal Nyima Gyaltsen, adding that more students might still be buried in the ruins.
The quake killed at least 56 students, and another 40 students trapped in the debris have a slim chance of survival, Xiao Yuping, deputy head of the education department of the prefecture, was quoted by Xinhua News Agency as saying.
Nyima Gyaltsen said classes would not normally have begun until about 9 am, but some students had already arrived at school for early morning sessions when the quake hit.
"The kids were sitting in the classrooms in the one-story buildings or reading near the school wall. They were buried under the collapsed buildings or walls," Wen Ming, the vice-principal, was quoted as saying.
"Most of us had no tools. There was just no way to find enough tools on campus. The ruins scratched many teachers' hands, leaving bloodstains everywhere," he said.
Large-scale excavating machines are in great need to save lives, Luo Huining, governor of Qinghai, said on the scene of the ongoing rescue of about 20 buried students at the Yushu Ethnic Comprehensive Vocational School late on Wednesday.
A total of 17 students had been saved there. A three-story building collapsed, leaving only one story above ground, State broadcaster CCTV reported on Thursday.
Zhang Xiaoqin, an official with the local fire department working on the rescue, said the students were in a morning session during the quake. He and colleagues arrived around 9 am.
"We have only basic equipment. Right now we're moving large floor slabs with machines, then soldiers search manually," Zhang said.
CHINA DAILY
