A woman was rescued from the rubbles of a collapsed garment factory after 17 days of being trapped under concrete and steel.
Late last month a disaster hit the $20 billion garment industry of Bangladesh after one of its factory buildings, the Rana Plaza, came crashing down killing more than 1,000 people. However, a glimmer of hope sparked for the people as one of the workers was rescued more than two weeks after the incident took place.
Reshma is a seamstress at the collapsed factory, together with thousands of other workers who were employed in one of the five garment factories housed in the collapsed building.
Live video shots of her being rescued and carried into a waiting ambulance were shown on Bangladeshi television. She was found on the second floor of the destroyed eight-story building.
In an interview with news reporters, Reshma said she heard the voices of the search rescuers from underneath the heaps of metal and concrete that enveloped her. She said that for several days, she used sticks and rods around her to hit the debris and catch the rescuers' attention. She did this for days until the rescuers finally heard her desperate efforts.
Using handsaws, welding and drilling equipment, Reshma was finally rescued after just 40 minutes of being discovered. Reports say she was given water, oxygen and saline during the rescue process. Surprisingly, the woman was in much good condition than expected after 17 days of being caught under the debris.
The woman said she survived under all the rubbles by eating dry food around her and drinking water that she possessed while trapped.
The survival of Reshma was a rare moment in the more than two weeks of searching for the bodies of the incident. The Rana Plaza's collapse was mainly due to its faulty construction and disregard for safety regulations.
According to Bangladeshi officials, as of Friday morning, 1,038 dead bodies have already been recovered from the collapse site. CBS News also reported that rescue efforts are still underway in an effort to recover and identify the victims' dead bodies.