Quake survivor trapped 164 hours leaves Beijing hospital

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-09-03 21:15

BEIJING - A survivor of the May 12 Sichuan Province quake who was trapped for 164 hours before being rescued from the debris was discharged from a Beijing hospital on Wednesday.

Li Mingcui, a 61-year-old woman, was also the last rescued survivor from Beichuan County, which was one of the areas worst-hit by the 8.0-magnitude quake.

Li was rescued at 10:42 a.m. on May 19, from the collapsed dormitory of a power company in Qushan Town, Beichuan.

She was immediately sent to a military hospital in downtown Mianyang City. Doctors said she was conscious but very fragile when she arrived, with numerous fractures.

Three days later, she was transferred to the Beijing-based 306 military hospital, where she was attended around the clock by a special nursing team and treated by the best doctors of the hospital.

Li underwent a nearly two-hour spine operation on June 2, sat up two days later and stood up again five days later, according to the hospital. She walked again with nurses' help about 10 days later.

The death toll from the quake was 69,226, according to the latest official figures. The number of people listed as missing and injured stood at 17,923 and 374,643, respectively.