A woman has been pulled alive from the rubble after an earthquake hit Nepal – miraculously walking away from a destroyed building.
At least 157 people were killed when the earthquake struck the west of the country late on Friday night.
The number of dead is expected to rise, with helicopters and troops drafted in to help find survivors.
A video captures one of the lucky ones: a woman dragged from the dusty rubble by a team of rescuers working by torchlight.
She holds a beam as someone uses a tool to hack at the debris around her. If the beam created a space for her head when the building collapsed, it may have saved her life.
There is shouting as rescuers grip the woman under the arms and pull her free, before she climbs away without apparent serious injury.
People injured in the earthquake undergo treatment at a hospital in Nepalgunj, Nepal
Witnesses said the earthquake caused houses to collapse and cut communications to many villages.
The earthquake happened at 11:47pm (6.02pm in the UK) in the Jajarkot district of Karnali province – 310 miles west of the capital Kathmandu.
Nepal’s National Seismological Centre said the magnitude was 6.4, while the US Geological Survey (USGS) put it at 5.6.
“Houses have collapsed. People rushed out of their homes. I am out in the crowd of terrified residents. We are trying to find details of damages,” said a police official.
Rescuers worked overnight to pull injured people from the rubble. However, landslides in some areas blocked roads and made access difficult.
Medical personnel and supplies were being flown in by helicopter – with Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal joining one flight.
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Homes destroyed after deadly quake
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Some of the wounded were being treated at the the regional hospital in the city of Nepalgunj.
“I was fast asleep when all of a sudden it started shaking violently. I tried to run but the whole house collapsed. I tried escaping but half my body got buried in the debris,” said Bimal Kumar Karki, one of the first two people to be brought to the hospital.
“I screamed, but every one of my neighbours were in the same situation and screaming for help. It took nearly half an hour to an hour before rescuers found me.”
The death toll included 105 people killed in Jajarkot and 52 in neighbouring Rukum West district, both in Karnali province, officials said.
“The number of injured could be in the hundreds and the deaths could go up as well,” Jajarkot district official Harish
Chandra Sharma told Reuters.
Although the quake’s magnitude was not severe, the damage and the death toll would likely be high due to the poor quality of construction in the area and that it struck while people slept, officials said.
Witnesses said the tremors were felt as far away as Kathmandu and New Delhi in India.
The earthquake struck western Nepal. Pic: USGS
The quake occurred at a depth of 11.1 miles (17.9km), according to the USGS.
Earthquakes are common in Nepal – a 7.8-magnitude quake in 2015 killed about 9,000 people and damaged about a million structures.
