Kathmandu, April 29: A man pulled out of the rubble of a collapsed hotel by a French rescue team more than three days after the deadly Nepal earthquake says he, as a last resort, drank his own urine so as to survive. Meanwhile, the death toll in the disaster crossed 6,000 Wednesday.
Rishi Khanal, 27, had just finished lunch at a hotel in Kathmandu and had gone up to the second floor when everything suddenly started to move and fall apart. He was struck by falling masonry and trapped with his foot crushed under rubble. “I had some hope but by yesterday I’d given up. My nails went all white and my lips cracked … I was sure no one was coming for me. I was certain I was going to die,” he told reporters from his hospital bed, surrounded by his family.
He was surrounded by dead people and a terrible smell. But he kept banging on the rubble all around him and eventually this brought a French rescue team that extracted him after an operation lasting many hours. By the time he was pulled out, he had been trapped in what could have become his tomb for 82 hours.
“There was no sound going out, or coming in. I kept banging against the rubble and finally someone responded and came to help. I hadn’t eaten or had anything to drink so I drank my own urine.”
It was not clear if he was a hotel employee or a guest. “It feels good. I am thankful,” he said. He was taken away for surgery before more details could be obtained. PTI