YINGHUA (China), May 16: Rescue crews pulled a man from a crushed building on Friday exactly 100 hours after China’s quake, but only after amputating an arm and a leg in a desperate bid to save his life.

Rescue workers, army troops and a tense crowd of about 100 onlookers erupted in wild cheers and applause as Liu Deyun was pulled to safety after a 12-hour rescue effort that gripped this quake-pulverised town since early morning.

A reporter witnessed Liu being pulled from the rubble of a collapsed factory building at 6:28 pm (1028 GMT), 100 hours to the minute after China’s biggest earthquake.

“It was a miracle, but miracles happen through hard work and this happened through our hard work,” said Zhao Hongxing, an army doctor who was involved in saving Liu.

His first words were: “The army is great and the doctors are great’,” Zhao said.

However, after Liu was whisked away in an ambulance, rescuers quickly went back to work digging for two more people in the same rubble.

“We must carry out our work immediately because there are two more people alive that we must pull out,” Zhao said.

In a desperate scene repeated across areas destroyed by Monday’s quake, rescue crews had burrowed delicately through the dangerously tottering remains of the structure to reach Liu, 50, who was pinned deep inside.—AFP