New Zealand earthquake survivor trapped in ‘foetal position’ marries

CHRISTCHURCH - A New Zealand woman who miraculously survived Tuesday’s 6.3 magnitude earthquake after being trapped “in a foetal position” for a terrifying seven hours married her fiance in Christchurch today.

Emma Howard recounted how she was trapped after she was thrown from her chair.

She said that her decision to not crouch under her desk saved her life as a section of the concrete floor from above crashed down on to her work station.

“I’m so lucky I didn’t get under my desk. My desk was crushed by the corner of the concrete floor roof above me that came down,” Stuff.co.nz quoted Howard, as saying.

The accountant further said that she and her six co-workers talked to each other and used the lights on their mobile phones to see in the darkness.

“There were so many things in between us, but we could see each other and we heard each other perfectly,” Howard said.

Trapped in the rubble, Howard texted her fiance, fellow accountant Chris Greenslade, who raced to the building from his nearby workplace.

“He just ran to me, expecting to find me standing on the street, ready to take me home,” she said.

Greenslade dug among the remains, pulling out other people as he searched for his bride-to-be.

He was photographed carrying an injured woman to safety in one of the first images that emerged of rescue efforts after the quake. (ANI)