TORONTO – A seamstress has been pulled from the rubble of the Bangladesh building collapse.
After being buried 17 days in the collapsed garment factory, soldiers at the site say the woman, identified as Reshma Begum, is in remarkably good condition.
VIDEO: Survivor found in Bangladesh rubble (May 10)
Rescuers stopped all debris removal and used hand saws to cut the woman Begum out from the debris.
A crowd gathered and erupted into cheers after Begum was freed.
Here’s a look at other recent and remarkable stories of survivors found under rubble.
Naqsha Bibi: Rescued after 63 days (2005)
An astonishing 63 days after an earthquake struck Pakistan-controlled Kashmir on October 8, 2005, killing more than 70,000 people, Naqsha Bibi was found alive in the ruins of what was her believed to be her kitchen.
The 40-year-old woman survived on rotting food and rainwater.
Friends and family said they were shocked Bibi managed to survive for so long.
“We were not even looking for her,” said her cousin Faiz Din in an interview with the BBC. “We thought that Naqsha had either fallen down the hill or had gone to live in some relief camp in the city.”
Evans Monsignac: Rescued after 27 days (2010)
On January 12, 2010, a 7.0-magnitute earthquake struck Port-au-Prince in Haiti.
Nearly a month after the disaster, the hope of finding survivors was all but diminished until rescuers pulled out Evans Monsignac, a 27-year-old father of two who said he survived under the rubble by sipping sewage that oozed underneath the marketplace where he was buried.
“I was resigned to death. But God gave me life. The fact that I’m alive today isn’t because of me, it’s because of the grace of God. It’s a miracle, I can’t explain it,” said Monsignac in an intensive care bed at Tampa General Hospital, Florida, shortly after his rescue.
4-month-old baby girl: 3 days (2011)
For three days, family members believed they lost their four-month-old girl after a powerful 9.0-magnitude earthquake and tsunami struck Japan’s northeast coast.
In the town of Ishinomaki, residents heard what they said sounded like a baby’s cry stemming from a pile of debris. Swaddled in a pink woolen bear suit, the girl was reunited with her parents—both of whom survived the disaster.
Kunio Shiga : 4 weeks later (2011)
More than four weeks after the earthquake and tsunami devastated Japan in 2011, farmer Kunio Shiga was found alive—and well—sitting among the rubble of his home.
The 75-year-old was running short on food and had no running water or electricity. His only source of company? A battery-powered radio that Shiga listened to in hopes that rescuers would find him.
No one ever came.
“The tsunami came right to my doorstep. I don’t know what happened to my wife. She was here, but now she’s gone,” he told the Daily Mail in an interview.
Shiga said his neighbours fled his home city after evacuation orders from authorities but that he was unable to leave due to trouble walking.
– With files from The Associated Press
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