60-year-old woman miraculously survives 196 hrs after China quake

New Delhi, May 21 : If a human-being survives without food and water for nearly 200 hours, what else could it be described than a miracle of miracles. After last Monday's earthquake of 7.8 magnitude, a woman lay buried under the rubble of a temple, only to be rescued after 196 hours, and that too without any major injury.

Wang Liqun, the woman retiree from the provincial capital of Chengdu, survived on rainwater and was conscious when rescuers found her and rushed her to hospital. She was inside a temple when the quake struck, and was hit by a falling girder, Chinese news agency Xinhua quoted the rescue team as saying.

She crept out of the temple and fell in coma again after making some 800 meters. Most of her body was buried in rubble when she was found on Tuesday.

In another case, Ma Yuanjiang, a power plant executive, was rescued at around 1 am on Tuesday from the rubble in Wenchuan county, the epicenter, nearly 179 hours after the May 12 quake. He was able to speak after being rescued, and began to eat a little shortly after, said Wu Geng, Ma's colleague and head of the plant, who was at the rescue site.

Yuanjiang was in a meeting when the quake ravaged the office building, and he was trapped in the debris of the second floor. The 31-year-old was pulled out by a Shanghai rescue team after more than 30 hours of effort.

Rescuers found Ma on Sunday afternoon when they were digging a hole to reach Yu Jinhua, Ma's colleague. Yu was pulled out at about 6 pm after one of his limbs was amputated. Rescuers then sent water to Ma through a long straw as they tried to figure out a way to reach him.

The collapsed building left little room for maneuver and more than 100 members of the Shanghai Police and Firefighters Disaster Rescue Team, dug inch by inch. After almost 30 hours, they chiseled through about 10 cement slabs, and opened a 10-m tunnel.

Ma suffered lacerations on his abdomen when he was pulled out; and he was rushed to Xinqiao Hospital in Chongqing. His internal organs were in good condition, but the left forearm had to be amputated, said doctors. He also suffered tissue infections. Speaking about his condition, hospital president Wang Weidong said: "The next 12 hours are crucial. The patient managed the first half of a miracle, now we are trying to do the second."

ANI