JAPAN: After five days of disaster and death, Japan was given some reason to cheer yesterday with the rescue of a toddler who had been trapped alive under a landslide since last Saturday, writes David McNeill in Tokyo
TV networks across the country interrupted normal programming to show live coverage of two-year-old Yuta Minagawa being pulled from his mother Takako's car, which was buried beneath tonnes of mud and rock following last weekend's deadly earthquakes. Although bleeding from the head and suffering from dehydration and hypothermia, rescuers said he was able to ask for a drink of water.
Mother, son and three-year-old sister Mayu went missing from their home in Niigata Prefecture, about 160 miles north of Tokyo, on Saturday as the first of the quakes, which have killed 32 people and injured over 2,000, jolted the area. The family endured cold, hunger and hundreds of aftershocks before their cries were heard by rescue workers.
Their father, Manabu, was being followed by a television crew as the news broke, after spending days desperately searching for his family.
Takako and her son were taken to hospital but she was pronounced dead yesterday evening, as firefighters and troops worked through the cold and several aftershocks to free Mayu.
Mr Minagawa, who was by his son's bedside last night, said he was thankful to the rescuers. "I just hope my daughter can also be saved." A hospital spokesman said the toddler was conscious.
About 100,000 people are still sleeping in cars, school gymnasiums and makeshift accommodation around Niigata, afraid to return to their homes. The area was hit by another powerful quake yesterday which toppled more buildings and closed Niigata Airport.