We Won't Give Up

SCDF rescuers recall saving quake victim trapped under collapsed building

- Sherlyn Sim

When rescuers from Singapore's Operation Lionheart arrived in Myanmar one day after a massive earthquake struck the country, they were stunned to see long stretches of buildings flattened by the temblor.

At site after site, the team of 80 kept their composure and searched under piles of rubble for any hope of life. The death toll in Myanmar from the devastating 7.7-magnitude quake on March 28 now stands at nearly 3,000.

The long hours they pulled were not in vain.

On March 30, from under a collapsed three-storey building at their second search site in Naypyitaw, the team helped pull out a man alive after eight hours of trying.

The man was assessed by a paramedic from the Singapore Civil Defence Force to be in a stable condition and taken to hospital.

The rescue was a morale booster.