An Indonesian man who survived nearly five days under the rubble of his house destroyed by a massive earthquake was pulled out Saturday by rescuers in Nias Island. The 42-year-old man, identified only as Hendra, emerged alive from the wreckage a day after rescue workers formally called off the search for survivors, saying it was unlikely anyone could survive more than four days. He was carried in an orange stretcher to a waiting ambulance as hundreds of onlookers flocked to the area to watch the operation. Hendra was found after laborers, employed by the family to look for survivors in the rubble of the three-story house, heard him calling out for help and water. They alerted the police who fetched Singaporean and Indonesian rescue teams that spent seven hours cutting through a thick layers of broken walls and roof. "He is alive. He is a survivor," said a Singaporean rescue official, who had no time to give his name. Hendra lived in the three-storey building in Gunung Sitoli, Nias Island's capital, with his wife and two children. The fate of the others is not immediately known. At least 548 people are confirmed to have died in the 8.7-magnitude earthquake on several islands off Sumatra. Most of the deaths occurred on Nias Island.
