Teenage boy saved from under Nepal rubble 5 days after earthquake

A teenage boy was pulled from the rubble in Nepal, 5 days after the deadly quake

(Image credit: BBC/YouTube)

On Thursday, rescue workers and onlookers in Kathmandu, Nepal, got a rare piece of good news: Almost five days exactly after the magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck Nepal, a teenage boy had been pulled from the rubble alive. The boy — Pema Lama, 15, according to Reuters; Pemba Tamang, 18, according to The Associated Press — had spent 144 hours trapped under the pancaked, water-logged ruins of the seven-story Kathmandu Hilton, saved by luck and his motorcycle.

"He thanked me when I first approached him," police officer L.B. Basnet told AP, noting that the boy was surprisingly sharp when he crawled down toward him. "He told me his name, his address, and I gave him some water. I assured him we were near to him." When the Nepalese, French, and American rescue workers pulled the teenager out on a stretcher, a large crowd cheered. But officials say the chance of finding other survivors is slim. BBC News has this report on the dramatic, improbable rescue:

The official death toll from the earthquake has now hit 5,489 in Nepal, and more than 80 people died in nearby Tibet and India.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.