APRIL 30 (Reuters) — Fifteen-year old earthquake survivor, Pema Lama, was rescued in Kathmandu on Thursday (April 30), six days after a 7.8-magnitude earthquake hit Nepal.
He was found amongst the rubble of the collapsed Hilton Hotel, and quickly extricated by Nepal’s Armed Police Force.
As the death toll on Thursday neared 5,500, rescue teams toiled in pouring rain in the debris left by Saturday’s (April 25) deadly quake, as officials said the chance of finding any more survivors was bleak.
Lama’s discovery came as a glimpse of hope in a country that has faced its worst earthquake in more than 80 years.
A Nepali-French rescue team pulled a 28-year-old man, Rishi Khanal, from a collapsed apartment block in Kathmandu on Tuesday (April 28) after he had spent around 80 hours trapped in a room with three dead bodies.
However, doctors amputated one of his legs on Wednesday (April 29) because of damage from prolonged internal bleeding.
An official from Nepal’s home ministry said the number of confirmed deaths from Saturday’s 7.8 magnitude earthquake had risen to 5,489 by Thursday morning. Almost 11,000 were injured, and more than 80 were also killed in neighboring India and Tibet.
Many people have been sleeping in the open after the quake – the United Nations has said 600,000 houses were destroyed or damaged. It has said eight million people have been affected, with at least two million in need of tents, water, food and medicines over the next three months. (Kathmandu, Nepal)
