Shenzhen landslide survivor narrate ordeal, rescuers hope for more

19-year-old Tian Zeming was the first survivor rescued from the catastrophic Shenzhen landslide.

The teenager was pulled out from under the debris by a detachment of the armed police rescuers around 6:30 am on Wednesday morning, 67 hours after the landslide.

“The five-story building collapsed suddenly when the landslide rushed down, and I was trapped in an office room. As one of my hands could move, I found a bottle of water and some snacks and melon seeds around me,” Tian told the CCTV.

BREAKING: first survivor found in rubble 67 hours after disaster. #shenzhenlandslide https://t.co/qGc6QlGvKW pic.twitter.com/AUrQ2H0Dhq

— SCMP News (@SCMP_News) December 23, 2015

Rescuers enhanced the search for signs of life in the landslide site in an industrial park in the City on Wednesday evening, even though the 72-hour golden period for saving lives had ended.

Mr Tian explained that while he was in the trap, he heard someone drilling above him.

“I knocked the board and shouted loudly. They finally found me when they drilled through the board,” he said.

More than 5,000 rescuers, including armed police and firefighters are now involved in the rescue operation, using about 500 excavators, bulldozers, cranes, drones, dogs and vital-signs detectors.

Heavy machinery still worked through the thousands of tons of soil and rubble, and rescuers tried to locate and dig the buried buildings.

Rescuers are still racing against time to find possible survivors. Some of them just had 2 to 3 hours of sleep in the last 48-hour rescue operation.