The rescuers speak of a “miracle”.
A 6-year-old boy was pulled alive from the rubble of his home two days after an earthquake that killed at least 271 people in Indonesia, emergency services said Thursday.
A video filmed by smartphone shows the rescuers getting out of the rubble unscathed the boy, who had been without water and food for two days.
We see in particular a rescuer who carries in his arms the boy dressed in a T-shirt and blue pants, while another runs behind to hold the hand of the child.
"When we found out Azka was alive, everyone burst into tears, including me," said volunteer rescuer Jeksen Kolibu.
Not far from where the little boy was rescued, rescuers discovered the lifeless body of his grandmother, Jeksen Kolibu added.
Azka was saved by a wall that resisted the shaking, preventing another wall from collapsing on him, local media reported.
“He was found on the left side of the house, on a bed.
He was protected by a pillow and there was a space of 10 cm between him and a concrete wall, ”detailed the rescuer.
“It was a very narrow, dark, hot place and the opening didn't let in a lot of air.
We did not expect him to still be alive after 48 hours, otherwise we would have made more efforts the night before” to find him, he regrets.
New hope when the toll is already very heavy
Azka's rescue has revived hopes for other survivors of the ruins caused by the earthquake that shook Monday near the town of Cianjur, west of the Indonesian island of Java.
More than a third of the victims of this earthquake are children, who were at school or at home when the earthquake occurred, according to data from the disaster management agency (BNPB).
VIDEO.
Indonesia earthquake kills at least 268, injures hundreds
“Today, the emergency services deployed 6,000 people.
It's raining but we keep looking,” the BNPB chief said.
The latest toll, announced Wednesday evening by the authorities, is 271 dead, 40 missing and more than 2,000 injured.
