Pulled out alive

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By PETER WARI
TEN members of a family — including a seven-month-old baby — trapped in their home buried by a landslide have thanked the villagers who dug them out “in time”.
The landslide near Mendi town occurred at around 4am on Monday last week after the 7.5 magnitude earthquake hit Hela and Southern Highlands.
It buried the home where three males, five females, a mother and her baby were sleeping in.
Mother Rhonda Mone, who works for the National Broadcasting Corporation in Lake Kopiago, Hela, told The National of their near-death experience.
Mone thanked God for the “miracle” rescue.
“It was God’s miracle that I survived with my baby and the family without any injuries,” she said.
“I would like to thank the boys who dug us out immediately.”
She said she dreaded to think what would have happened if the rescue effort had been a few minutes late, because they would have suffocated and died.
“I was asleep with my children in the early hours of Monday morning at about 4am when I heard people shouting, without realising that I was buried in the landslip with my children,” she said.
“After 10 to 20 minutes, I was struggling to breathe and my children could not get out of their beds.”
She said the home had caved in under the weight of the soil and pressed them against their beds.
“The thick soil from the landslip put more weight on top of the house,” she said.
She said it was fortunate that the villagers dug frantically as soon as they noticed what had happened, and managed to get the 10 people out safely.
Mone said the house was recently built from a bank loan she had taken out.
She said neighbouring families and friends were now also providing shelter and food for her and the children.
“I have been visited by some families, friends and neighbours since the landslip,” she said.