A Chinese rescue team pulled a male survivor from beneath the rubble of a collapsed hotel in the quake-hit city of Mandalay in central Myanmar on Wednesday, bringing an end to his harrowing 120-hour ordeal.
He was the ninth survivor rescued by Chinese teams since the deadly earthquake struck the Southeast Asian country on March 28, which has claimed the lives of at least 3,145 people and left 4,589 others injured.
Following a tip from the local fire department, a Chinese rescue team, equipped with advanced radar detection devices, arrived at the Golden Country Hotel in Mandalay on Wednesday morning to begin their search operations. They detected signs of life within the rubble, located just 10 meters from the hotel entrance.
Upon entering the third floor, the team conducted an initial investigation and discovered a passage through the collapsed building where they heard faint knocking sounds, guiding them to the exact location of the trapped survivor.
The man had been buried under debris on the second floor. The rescue team first accessed a room on the third floor and cut a large hole in a door to reach a point above the survivor's location.
They then drilled a small hole in the floor to observe the space below.
As the drilling began, the rescuers heard sounds coming from below, signaling the survivor's presence.
"We had only been digging for about 10 seconds when we heard the voice from the trapped people. My teammates and I immediately turned off the equipment, and we tried to speak to him. He responded and confirmed that he was about three meters from the hotel room's door on the second floor. At that moment, I felt goosebumps all over my body," recalled Tian Yuan, a member of the Chinese rescue team.
The team learned that the man was in stable condition, trapped between two bed frames, and suffered from severe dehydration.
"We gave him some saltwater, which our doctor had prepared as a form of life support, and he drank a little. When I reached down to hand him the tube, I could see his hand. My hand touched his as I extended it downward," said Pan Zhaohu, another member of the team.
After confirming the survivor's exact location, the team reassured him and began carefully expanding the hole in the floor, prioritizing his safety throughout the process. Working in unison, they spent approximately an hour and a half enlarging the hole to a diameter of about 50 cm.
One rescuer carefully leaned into the space where the man was trapped and saw him raise his hand.
The rescuers continued to clear surrounding debris and cautiously pulled the survivor out of the rubble.
Once the man was freed, they immediately placed an eye mask on him and wrapped him in a blanket to keep him from hypothermia.
After three hours of relentless efforts, the Chinese rescue team successfully pulled the 52-year-old Myanmar national from the wreckage at about 17:40 local time.
Despite enduring such a long and harrowing ordeal, the survivor emerged with no injuries and was in surprisingly good physical and mental condition.
Chinese rescuers pull man from rubble 5 days after deadly Myanmar quake
Chinese rescuers save man buried under rubble for over 120 hours after Myanmar quake
