Japan: Man pulled from wreckage 8 days after it was flattened by tsunami

Mtoday news / Mail

Miyagi, Japan, March 18: A man was found alive early today in the wreckage of his house - eight days after the tsunami smashed into the building, making escape impossible.

All hope had been given up of finding any more survivors after such a long time and in freezing temperatures.

Troops from the civil defence department were stunned to find the young man, shocked and unable to speak, in the ruins of the house in the town of Kesennuma in the badly-hit Miyagi prefecture.

 

 

Miracle: The man was pulled alive from the rubble eight days after Japan’s powerful earthquake and tsunami

He appeared to have suffered no major injuries but what he had been through had left him in a state of deep shock, said officials.

The man, whose name was not immediately known, was unable to tell his rescuers what had happened to him and what he had endured for the past eight days.

’It’s quite incredible that we’ve found someone alive after all this time,’ said a civil defence official.

 

Safe: The man was transported to a hospital in Kesennuma in Miyagi prefecture

’Perhaps there really are more survivors to be found.

’We are doing our best to reach buildings that have been difficult to get to and after this morning’s wonderful discovery perhaps we will find more people still alive.’


Japanese television pictures showed the man, believed to be in his 20s, being lifted onto a stretcher and carried from the ruins of the house. He was taken to hospital where he will be treated for shock, hypothermia, hunger and general exhaustion.

 

Stable: The man, in his 20s, was in shock and unable to speak when he was found