Pregnant woman saved from quake rubble in Myanmar
A story of hope for the family and friends of those trapped beneath the rubble of a Bangkok building emerged today from Myanmar’s capital, when a 63 year old woman was rescued 91 hours after she became trapped beneath the wreckage of her building. Emergency workers carefully extracted her after tirelessly digging through debris, marking one of the most extraordinary survival stories to emerge since the quake.
Her rescue came just over 24 hours after another miracle: a pregnant woman was found alive beneath the ruins. Video footage shows rescue teams atop a pile of debris, setting up an intricate pulley system to reach her. She was discovered wedged within the collapsed remains of her apartment. With painstaking care, rescuers strapped her to a stretcher, stabilised her spine, and winched her down two storeys to waiting arms below.
Meanwhile, in Bangkok, the search for life continues amid the ruins of the collapsed 30-storey State Audit Office building. As of this morning, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration confirmed 13 dead and 19 injured, with dozens still missing.
According to the Ruamkatanyu Rescue Foundation, a US-supplied sensor has detected 70 signs of possible life deep within the centre of the collapsed structure, between the 17th and 21st floors, where many of the missing were believed to be working.
Bangkok Deputy Governor Tavida Kamolvej said, “It’s still unclear how many of the 70 signals are actual people. So far, we’ve identified six as human remains.”
She added that the collapse had caused the building to pancake, the floors flattened one atop the other, making it impossible to pinpoint which floor survivors were on.
The building, still under construction at the time of the quake, lacked a finalised blueprint. This, combined with 1-metre-thick concrete walls, has made rescue operations painstakingly slow, reported Bangkok Post and Daily Mail UK.
Heavy machinery remains unusable due to safety concerns, forcing rescuers to remove debris by hand, top-down, piece by piece. The rescue strategy is being continuously revised in hopes of finding more survivors.
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