Baby Freed From Rubble 22 Hours After Massive Nepal Earthquake
Over 22 hours after the devastating 7.8 earthquake struck Nepal last weekend, the Nepalese Army reportedly recovered a five-month-old baby from the rubble of a collapsed building.
Photos from the amazing recovery show members of the Nepalese Army holding the infant, who appears to be healthy yet covered in dust and dirt from the building collapse. The baby was found wedged safely in an open space of the fallen rubble.
The mother of the child, Rasmila Awal, told CNN that she was walking home from the store in her village of Muldhoka on Saturday when the massive earthquake struck. Awal reportedly screamed for help, knowing her children, Soniya 10, and Sonies, five months old, were in the building she lived in that collapsed shortly after the earthquake struck.
"I started screaming and asking neighbors for help," she told CNN this week.
"I went numb," the mother continued. "I didn't hear anything, didn't know if they were alive or not."
After hours of searching, 10-year-old Soniya was found among the rubble alive, but it took nearly a day more of searching to find Sonies before a Nepalese soldier heard his faint cries and pulled him from the rubble.
A Nepalese photojournalist named Amul Thapa, who works for KathmanduToday.com, told USA Today that his opportunity to photograph the baby being freed from the rubble helped with his suffering following the massive quake that has claimed over 5,500 lives.
"When I saw the baby alive all my sorrow went. Everyone was clapping. It gave me energy and made me smile in spite of lots of pain hidden inside me," Thapa recalled.