Rescue of buried Indian man after eight days

Rescue teams have pulled a construction labourer alive from rubble eight days after a building collapse in the southern Indian city of Bellary. Thirty-year-old Mallaiah was rescued by the National Disaster Response Force, a special paramilitary unit tasked with responding to natural calamities.

Twenty-three people were killed when the apartment complex collapsed. It came down while under construction on 26 January leaving people buried beneath tonnes of masonry and debris. More than 20 people were rescued within two days of the disaster.

"It was a miracle for us to see him alive," superintendent of police Seemanthkumar Singh said. "Rescuers saw a raised hand first; they realised the person could be alive."



Doctors at the hospital where Mallaiah is recuperating - 350km (217 miles) north of Bangalore - say he only suffered minor bruises. "I was sandwiched between a fallen beam and a broken wall. For the first few minutes I did not know what happened. All I heard was a big noise and then the building was down," Mallaiah recalled.

He said that he drank a tumbler of water lying near him on the day the building collapsed. After that there was nothing to eat or drink. "I had lost count of time ... I am very lucky to be alive."

Five newborn puppies were also rescued along with Mallaiah. But police fear that Mallaiah's wife could be among the dead.