A miracle among the rubble

A girl was found in the ruins of her Pakistan home eight days after an earthquake killed tens of thousands in the region. Miracles do happen.

BAGH, Pakistan - Soldiers pulled a young girl alive from the rubble of her home Sunday, eight days after a mammoth earthquake killed tens of thousands of people and caused widespread damage in Pakistan's mountainous north and part of India.

The cheering report came as torrential rains halted relief flights into the Himalayan region of
Kashmir, which was worst hit by the quake. A general warned that the cold and wet were likely to cause more deaths among the estimated 2 million people left homeless by the disaster.

The military said rescuers found the polio-stricken girl in a wrecked house in the village of Sanger near Balakot, a town in North West Frontier Province that was flattened.

"She is absolutely fine," said Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan, the chief army spokesman. He said he did not know her age.

Two brothers of the girl, aged 7 and 9, arrived at an army camp carrying a 7-month-old sister and seeking help for the trapped girl. They reported their parents had been killed and then led soldiers to the home, Sultan said.

"They're the real heroes," he said. "They said their house is destroyed, their parents are dead and nobody is alive in their locality."

He said there was still hope, however remote, of finding survivors. The Red Cross previously said people can survive under rubble for nearly a week.