Haiti quake: 4-year-old-boy miraculously survives after being buried for three days

Port-Au-PRINCE - Amid the widespread despair caused by the massive earthquake in Haiti’s capital Port-Au-Prince, emerged a rare moment of joy when a 4-year-old boy was pulled to safety three days after he was buried alive in his two-story family home.

Paul Derlice was exhausted and intensely dehydrated but miraculously unharmed.

According to the Daily News, people in the street ran to get a glimpse of Paul as he was carried down a huge pile of rubble by the heroic Haitian men who slaved for hours in the blazing sun to free him.

“I’m very proud. I feel like a hero. God let this boy live,” the paper quoted Jean Mercilien, one of the crew of neighbours who rescued the boy with only a pick-axe and a couple of hammers, as saying.

Paul was in the ground floor of his family home when the quake hit.

His mother and aunt were on the top floor and managed to escape. Paul was presumed dead in the rubble, along with three others who lived in the building.

For days, friends and neighbours had been climbing over the remains of the house; they heard no voices from beneath the debris.

But about 8 a.m. on Friday, Rene Contant, who works for Paul’s mother, heard a voice from deep underground.

“I was passing by and speaking aloud and the child heard that. He said, ‘Boss Rene’ and ‘Mama.’ Then he started crying,” the paper quoted Contant, as saying.

A group of neighbours began digging for Paul using whatever primitive resources they had on hand, and ultimately managed to rescue him.

His mother, unable to believe her eyes, called it a miracle.

“It’s a miracle. I thought it was impossible that he was alive,” Charleston, 50, said. (ANI)