6-year-old boy pulled alive from rubble two days after Indonesia earthquake
Sylvie Claire / November 24, 2022
A six-year-old boy, Azka, was pulled alive from the rubble two days after an earthquake that killed at least 271 people in Indonesia, a rescuer told AFP on Thursday, welcoming a « miracle.
The rescue was filmed on Wednesday night and raised hopes of pulling more survivors out of the ruins caused by the earthquake that shook the area around the town of Cianjur, on the western Indonesian island of Java, on Monday.
When we realized that Azka was alive, everyone burst into tears, including me," volunteer rescuer Jeksen Kolibu told AFP, calling it "a miracle.
A video filmed by smartphone shows rescuers pulling the boy, who had been without food and water for two days, from the rubble unharmed.
He was found next to the lifeless body of his grandmother, Jeksen Kolibu added, saved thanks to 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 10 cm gap between him and a concrete wall," detailed Jeksen Kolibu.
More than a third of the quake's victims are children, who were in school or at home when the quake struck, according to data from the disaster management agency (BNPB).
But time is running out to find more survivors as rain and aftershocks from the quake slow the search.
The latest death toll, announced Wednesday evening by the authorities, is 271 dead, 40 missing and more than 2,000 injured.