Saturday, October 15, 2005
Tale of the last survivor - BBC News
When his French rescuers lifted five-year-old Shameer Shah Jehan free he was naked and silent, his clothes torn off by falling debris.
He had been under the rubble of the Shaheen Foundation School in the devastated Pakistani town of Balakot for 63 hours. ...
In the hours after the earthquake desperate parents clawed at the rubble.
Cries could be heard from within the building - a three-storey structure perched on the hillside above Balakot which had pancaked as the quake struck.
But without heavy lifting equipment, few of the surviving children could be reached.
...
He now lives in a tent improvised from a sheet and bamboo poles a few hundred metres from the school, surrounded by what remains of his family.
Four of his aunts and uncles are dead. His cousin and best friend, Erbab, died beside him in the rubble.
It is estimated that 10,000 bodies lie under the rubble of Balakot. About 90% of buildings were flattened.
...
"That little boy was crushed into a space that fitted him perfectly. The two children on either side were dead. He had his arms around his head and when we pulled him he came out like a cork. None of his limbs had been crushed, otherwise he would have been very hard to extract." ...
[The teacher's] body was covering two children," said Mr Mornat. "The first was dead but the second was alive. We think that she died trying to shield them as the building collapsed."
...
"He said he drank water under there, but it must be a miracle because there was no water there," said his mother.
Shameer did not sleep throughout his experience, he said. Asked what he thought about in the 63 hours he spent under the rubble, he shook his head.
"For three days I wept for my son," said his mother. "When he was found there was no limit to my joy. The French lifted him out so gently."
When his French rescuers lifted five-year-old Shameer Shah Jehan free he was naked and silent, his clothes torn off by falling debris.
He had been under the rubble of the Shaheen Foundation School in the devastated Pakistani town of Balakot for 63 hours. ...
In the hours after the earthquake desperate parents clawed at the rubble.
Cries could be heard from within the building - a three-storey structure perched on the hillside above Balakot which had pancaked as the quake struck.
But without heavy lifting equipment, few of the surviving children could be reached.
...
He now lives in a tent improvised from a sheet and bamboo poles a few hundred metres from the school, surrounded by what remains of his family.
Four of his aunts and uncles are dead. His cousin and best friend, Erbab, died beside him in the rubble.
It is estimated that 10,000 bodies lie under the rubble of Balakot. About 90% of buildings were flattened.
...
"That little boy was crushed into a space that fitted him perfectly. The two children on either side were dead. He had his arms around his head and when we pulled him he came out like a cork. None of his limbs had been crushed, otherwise he would have been very hard to extract." ...
[The teacher's] body was covering two children," said Mr Mornat. "The first was dead but the second was alive. We think that she died trying to shield them as the building collapsed."
...
"He said he drank water under there, but it must be a miracle because there was no water there," said his mother.
Shameer did not sleep throughout his experience, he said. Asked what he thought about in the 63 hours he spent under the rubble, he shook his head.
"For three days I wept for my son," said his mother. "When he was found there was no limit to my joy. The French lifted him out so gently."
Comments:
Post a Comment
| Get a hit counter here. |
