CIANJUR, Indonesia (AFP) — A six-year-old boy has been pulled from the rubble of a deadly Indonesia earthquake after spending two days trapped under debris without food or water, in a "miracle" rescue.
The dramatic rescue captured on camera Wednesday evening revived hopes that survivors could still be pulled alive from the wreckage days after the strong tremor that hit the West Java town of Cianjur on Monday, killing at least 271 people.
"Once we realized Azka was alive everybody broke into tears, including me," 28-year-old local volunteer Jeksen Kolibu told AFP on Thursday.
"It was very moving, it felt like a miracle."
Video showed rescue workers pulling the boy Azka free from a destroyed home in Cianjur's worst-hit district of Cugenang, wearing the blue shirt and trousers he had on when he became trapped.
The man who pulled him out of a hole cut in the debris clasped him in both arms, as another rescue worker in an orange hard hat ran after them to hold the boy's hand, footage released by the
administration of West Java's Bogor district showed.
Azka — whose last name remains unknown — was then shown calmly sipping a drink, held by a soldier as another emergency worker stroked his hair.
His mother died in the earthquake and her body was found hours before Azka's rescue, a volunteer told AFP on Thursday.
The boy was then found next to his dead grandmother, Kolibu said.
