Dog survives after 30 hours buried in debris

After being buried in debris for more than 30 hours, a dog in a quake-hit village in Gansu province miraculously survived and was rescued by his owner and other helpers on Tuesday.

The dog, about 18 months old, is named Xiaohuang, or Little Yellow, because of the color of its fur, said its owner, Zhang Shesheng, who lives in Yongxing village of Minxian county, the region that was hardest hit by Monday's magnitude-6.6 quake.

Xiaohuang was chained to a wooden post in one of Zhang's two storage rooms, which collapsed on the dog.

"After I rushed out with all of my family members, I took some time to search for the dog," Zhang said. "But I did not hear any sound, so I thought it must be dead."

Zhang, a village official, soon forgot about the dog and began helping quake victims. But when Zhang went to feed his pigs on Tuesday afternoon, he heard a "dog sound" near the pigpen.

"The sound was very strange," he said. "I got down on my knees and lowered my ear to the debris and heard another sound from the dog."

Zhang thought that Xiaohuang might still be alive, so he asked his 26-year-old son Zhang Peng help him dig through the debris. Several rescue volunteers who were passing by also joined in the search.

After 20 minutes, Xiaohuang was freed. Zhang said the dog was healthy and showed no signs of injuries.