Brazilian baby found alive and well after 15 hours under rubble

[Turborama]

Source: The Guardian

Rescuers hail 'miracle' as six-month-old Nicolas Barreto and his father survive landslides that left 500 dead

Tom Phillips in Teresópolis | Friday January 14 2011 12.33 GMT


Six-month-old baby Nicolas Barreto is rescued from the mudslide
in Nova Friburgo, Brazil.

News of the "miracle" rescue of a six-month-old Brazilian boy provided a rare moment of hope yesterday as the death toll from this week's devastating landslides continued to rise.

Nicolas Barreto was reportedly at his grandmother's home in the hilltop town of Nova Friburgo, one of the worst-affected settlements, when a cascade of earth and debris swallowed up the area early on Wednesday.

He and his father were presumed to have died in the disaster, which has claimed more than 500 lives.

Nearly 15 hours later, however, elated Brazilian firefighters – including some who helped out after Haiti's 2010 earthquake exactly a year earlier – discovered Nicolas alive and well with his father, Wellington da Silva Guimarães.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/14/brazil-landslides-miracle-baby-nicolas-barreto

---

(Posted separately from http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4696032">the main Brazil landslides thread as I thought it was a news story in its own right)

[indimuse]

1. Bless our Planet!

Be Love~

[Peace Patriot]

2. Very moving story! Hoorah for this miracle child and his father!

According to reports in Brazil, he and his 25-year-old father were cocooned in an underground air pocket and protected by the collapsed concrete roof. Guimarães wrapped himself around his baby son in the foetal position during their 15-hour ordeal.

"We can consider this a miracle," one of the rescuers said as Nicolas was rushed to hospital where he was given a clean bill of health.

Ademilson Barreto Guimarães, the baby's grandfather, wept as Nicolas was hauled from the destruction at around 8.30pm. "There's no way of explaining this. It really is a miracle," he told reporters.--from the OP

-----

His mother and grandmother were killed. Authorities fear that half of the fatalities were children, and are very worried about the 200,000 other children at risk from continued catastrophic rains and floods.

Horrible disaster! I felt tears well up myself, reading of this child's grandfather's tears upon their rescue. Can you just imagine, thinking your children are dead and finding out that they are not, that they somehow survived in hopeless conditions where hundreds died.

Wow!

It's kind of like the Gabrielle Giffords "high" that I've been feeling. She didn't die! SHE DIDN'T DIE! Horrible as the rest of it was--SHE SURVIVED! Shot pointblank in the head--and she survived and has an excellent chance of recovery. That is just so amazing!

:grouphug: