Tian Zeming, a survivor found in the landslide site, receives medical treatment at a hospital in Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong Province, Dec. 23, 2015. Tian was pulled out alive early Wednesday morning more than 60 hours after a landslide in Shenzhen. (Xinhua/Sun Fei)
A man was rescued early Wednesday morning, more than 60 hours after being buried by a landslide on Sunday at an industrial park in the southern city of Shenzhen.
Tian Zeming, 21, a native of the southwestern municipality of Chongqing, was pulled from the debris around 6:30 a.m. and rushed to Guangming New District Central Hospital. Previous reports said that Tian was 19 years old.
Following surgery on Wednesday morning Tian is conscious and in a stable condition, said hospital president Wang Guangming. However, he is extremely weak, dehydrated and has sustained several soft tissue injuries and multiple fractures, Wang added.
The fallen debris seriously crushed Tian's right lower leg, but the hospital is doing as much as it can to save his lower limb, Wang added.`
Tian was one of 76 people reported missing following the incident, which occurred just before midday on Sunday after a huge pile of construction waste on a hill collapsed, destroying much in its path.
Rescuers identified Tian's location at 1 a.m. on Wednesday and pulled him from a collapsed factory building at 3:30 a.m.
Tian was able to tell rescuers his name and said that there was another survivor near him.
Firefighters had to squeeze into the narrow room in which he was trapped, and remove most of the debris by hand, said Zhang Yabin, a police officer participating in the rescue.
Before he was pulled out, Tian had been given oxygen and received an intravenous infusion, Zhang said.
Wu Wenwei, a firefighter on the scene, said they put a hard hat on Tian to protect him from stones and debris loosened by the rescue mission.
The other trapped person that Tian spoke of, however, was unresponsive, and was later pronounced dead, according to rescuers.
Heavy machinery continues to rake through the thousands of tonnes of soil and rubble that has swollen up factories and residential buildings, and even though the 72-hour golden period for saving lives has ended, rescuers have not lost hope.
"The rescue work won't slow," said Yue Xi, another police officer at the scene, told Xinhua.
Wang Guoshe, head of Guangdong fire department, said locating the tops of buried buildings was the main task currently, so that signs of life could be found more accurately.
On Wednesday morning, the State Council, China's cabinet, initiated an investigation into the incident.
Minister of Land and Resources Jiang Daming will lead the investigation team, which includes members from the Ministry of Public Security; Ministry of Supervision; Ministry of Environmental Protection; Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development; State Administration of Work Safety; All-China Federation of Trade Unions; Guangdong Provincial Government; and Shenzhen Municipal Government.
