Myanmar man pulled alive from rubble after 108 hours; earthquake deaths exceeed 3,000

A 26-year-old man was rescued alive from the debris of a hotel in Myanmar five days after a powerful 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck the region. The development revived hope amid fading prospects of finding additional survivors.

A team, consisting of rescuers from Myanmar and Turkey successfully pulled the man to safety after a gruelling nine-hour operation in the capital city, Naypyidaw on Tuesday, according to local news reports.

Rescuers on Wednesday found a shirtless man, Niang Lin Tun, engulfed with dust, but he was seen conscious in a video released by the local fire department as he was fitted with an IV drip and taken away.  

Emergency responders used an endoscopic camera to locate the man amidst the rubble and verify that he was still alive, officials stated.

Read: Myanmar earthquake death toll surpasses 1,000 as rescue efforts continue

Following this, they carefully extracted him through a hole created by a jackhammer in the floor, placing him on a stretcher approximately 108 hours after he became trapped in the hotel where he was employed.

The rescue was deemed nothing short of miraculous,  as his chances of survival beneath the debris had dwindled rapidly with each passing day beyond the critical 24-hour window.

Notably, earlier, rescuers uncovered a 63-year-old woman from the rubble of a building in the capital. 

That was a powerful earthquake in Myanmar, claiming at least 3,085 lives and destroying thousands of buildings and pagodas.

Read: Skyscrapers crumble in Bangkok after strong tremors 

An under-construction high-rise building collapsed in Bangkok due to the earthquake, resulting in one fatality, bringing the city's death toll to 22 and the injured count to 34, mostly at the construction site. 

Meanwhile, Myanmar's military leader, Senior Gen Min Aung Hlaing, announced at a relief donation forum that the country reported 4,521 injuries and 441 missing persons, according to state media.