World

Girl rescued 2 weeks after Haiti quake

French rescuers pulled a teenage girl out of the rubble of the destroyed College St. Gerard in Port-au-Prince on Wednesday, a stunning recovery 15 days after an earthquake devastated the city.
A girl is pulled from the rubble of the College St. Gerard in Port-au-Prince on Wednesday. ((Eduardo Munoz/Reuters))

French rescuers pulled a teenage girl out of the rubble of the destroyed College St. Gerard in Port-au-Prince on Wednesday, a stunning recovery 15 days after an earthquake devastated the city.

Darlene Etienne was rushed to a field hospital. Her cousin said Etienne had just started studying at the school when the quake struck on Jan. 12. "We thought she was dead," the cousin said.

The last rescue of a person trapped by the quake occurred Saturday when a man was extricated from the ruins of a hotel grocery store.

Rico Dibrivell, 35, is attended to by a U.S. military rescue team member after being rescued from the rubble two weeks after the quake hit Haiti. ((Eduardo Munoz/Reuters))

On Tuesday, Haitians pulled Rico Dibrivell, 35, from the rubble of a downtown store. He later said he had been trapped since one of the quake's early aftershocks.

Dibrivell was covered in dust, wearing only underpants. He was found by the U.S. Army 82nd Airborne Division's Delta Company on Tuesday. U.S. soldiers treated him for a broken leg and severe dehydration.

Troops with the company said they were conducting a rubble-clearing mission in downtown Port-au-Prince when they spotted movement in the crushed concrete.

Around 130 people have been found alive in rubble following the 7.0-magnitude quake, which is estimated to have killed up to 200,000 people, including 21 Canadians. Authorities say it is unlikely for anyone to survive more than 72 hours without water.

On Saturday, an international team of rescuers unearthed a shop clerk who they believed had been buried since the quake hit. The 24-year-old man had apparently survived on soda he found at the hotel shop.

With files from The Associated Press