RESCUERS on Thursday (April 30), pulled free a woman who had been trapped under a collapsed building for five days following a 7.8 magnitude earthquake which devastated the tiny Himalayan nation of Nepal.
Krishna Devi Kadkha, who is in her late twenties, was working as a maid in a Kathmandu hostel when the quake struck.
She spent five days trapped under the rubble with three bodies, including that of her uncle.
The alarm was raised by 14 year old Sumi, who is the daughter of the hostel owner who said she thought there were around 20 people trapped under the building.
Rescuers used a specialised scanning machine to detect signs of life.
Emergency teams then carefully removed the surrounding debris to clear a safe path to pull Kadkha to safety.
One of her rescuers said the operation took around four hours.
“There was another body above her that kind of blocked the walls and rocks from collapsing and also created some kind of air pocket that enabled her to breath and to survive for, for more than 130 hours without drinks, without food,” said Yotam Polizer, from ISRAAID, an Israeli-based humanitarian aid agency.
Kadkha was being treated in a field hospital operated by the Israeli Military late on Thursday.
“Her situation right now is quite serious. She came in and was conscious and was able to speak, but we did see that she was having trouble breathing, so she was intubated and now really the main focus is to deal with the serious chest injury that she has,” said Lieutenant Libby Weiss, a spokesperson for the Israeli medial team.
Officials said the chances of finding more survivors were fading as the death toll climbed above 5,500.
According to the United Nations, 600,000 houses have been destroyed or damaged.
It 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.
An official from Nepal’s home ministry said the number of confirmed deaths from the 7.8 magnitude earthquake had risen to 5,582 by Thursday afternoon, and almost 11,200 were injured (Reuters/Credit ISRAAID-MAGEN/Miki Noam Alon)
