Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Man rescues wife trapped under earthquake rubble

American journalist Frank Thorp was six hours away from the capital of Port-au-Prince when he got a 'terrifying' ten-second phone call from his wife Jillian to say she was trapped under their concrete home in the city.It came minutes after a 7.0 quake ripped through the poor Caribbean nation, with thousands feared to have died after buildings collapsed all over the crowded capital.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy



After a six-hour drive Mr Thorp got there to find the three-storey concrete house completely collapsed to ground level, with his wife still trapped underneath along with a colleague who works with her at a charity and members of her house staff.
He said: 'Some of the Haitian workers here had broken through the ceiling... I jumped into the hole and I was able to see her wave her hand.
'I couldn't see her whole body, she as just waving. I could hear her voice.'
He added: 'We had to pull brick after brick after brick and doors and metal away for at least an hour after to get her out.'

Although his wife was in good condition, her housekeeper had to have both her legs amputated.

The earthquake, followed by at least 30 aftershocks, was the biggest to hit the nation in 200 years and has left it in desperate need of help as the population was still struggling to recover from three hurricane strikes in 2008.

No comments:

Post a Comment