TAINAN, Taiwan (AFP) — Two survivors were Monday rescued from the rubble of an apartment complex in Taiwan felled by an earthquake, after being trapped for more than 50 hours.
One man was lifted out by crane, said AFP reporters at the toppled Wei-kuan building in the southern city of Tainan. A woman had also been freed earlier according to rescuers.
Local media identified the man as 40-year-old Lee Tsong-tian — rescuers had earlier told how they had been trying to dig him out of the rubble for more than 20 hours but were unable to as he was trapped by his leg.
Doctors had been sent in to assess whether removing his leg would help save him, but felt there was not enough room for the operation.
“Doctors climbed to the site to try to amputate his leg because it was stuck, but that did not work,” Tainan mayor William Lai had told reporters before Lee was rescued.
“Civil engineers have advised us to dig him out from the bottom of the structure and we are keeping on trying to get him out.”
The woman survivor had been reached after rescuers heard her cries for help — but her husband and two-year-old child were pulled out dead, officials at the site said.
Emergency workers are searching for five other members of her family trapped inside.
There are still more than 100 residents buried in the rubble of the building which was toppled by a 6.4-magnitude quake Saturday.
cty-aw-lm/mtp
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