Rishi Khanal Pulled Alive From Rubble 80 Hours After Nepal Earthquake

Man Pulled Alive From Rubble 80 Hours After Nepal Earthquake
Survivor Rishi Khanal, 27, is freed by French rescuers from the ruins of a three-story hotel in the Gangabu area of Kathmandu, Nepal, Tuesday, April 28, 2015. Across central Nepal, including in Kathmandu, the capital, hundreds of thousands of people are still living in the open without clean water or sanitation since Saturdayâs massive earthquake, one of the worst to hit the South Asian nation in more than 80 years. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha)
Survivor Rishi Khanal, 27, is freed by French rescuers from the ruins of a three-story hotel in the Gangabu area of Kathmandu, Nepal, Tuesday, April 28, 2015. Across central Nepal, including in Kathmandu, the capital, hundreds of thousands of people are still living in the open without clean water or sanitation since Saturdayâs massive earthquake, one of the worst to hit the South Asian nation in more than 80 years. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha)

KATHMANDU, April 28 (Reuters) - A Nepali-French search and rescue team pulled a 28-year-old man, Rishi Khanal, from a collapsed apartment block in the Nepalese capital of Kathmandu on Tuesday after he had spent around 80 hours in a room with three dead bodies.

Khanal appeared to have had no access to food or water during his ordeal, which began at midday on Saturday when a 7.9 magnitude earthquake hit Nepal, destroying buildings and killing at least 4,600 people.

"It seems he survived by sheer willpower," said Akhilesh Shrestha, a doctor who treated him.

Khanal had been on the second floor of a seven-story building when the quake struck. The top floors were intact and the teams drilled down to him after he shouted for help and responded to questions in Nepali.

The rescue took five hours. Doctors think he may have a broken leg. (Reporting by Ross Adkin, Joseph Campbell, Vorasit Satienlerk and Frank Jack Daniel; Editing by Mike Collett-White)

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