Rescuers Believe Mother Saved Baby With Final Act

She threw infant to safety as mudslide hit village in central China
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 23, 2021 9:50 AM CDT

A baby girl was found alive in the rubble of a home destroyed by a mudslide in China Wednesday—and rescuers believed she was saved by her mother's final act. Rescuers said when they found the mother's body the next day, her position suggested she was lifting something up when the mudslide hit, the BBC reports. Rescuers and relatives believe she threw the infant to a higher spot. "Just at that crucial moment she had lifted up her child, and that's why the baby girl lived," a rescue worker told the Beijing Youth Daily. The girl, believed to be three or four months old, had been in the rubble in the Henan province village of Wangzongdian for around 24 hours before she was rescued.

The death toll from severe flooding caused by heavy rains in central China has now hit 51, according to state media, but it is expected to rise significantly as more reports come in from rural areas, the AP reports. The toll includes 12 people who were trapped in flooded subway cars in Zhengzhou. Early Friday, more than 100 trapped cars were removed from a major cross-city tunnel in the city; it's not clear how many motorists died in the tunnel, which was completely submerged, reports the Guardian. Authorities say the record-breaking rainstorms have destroyed the homes of around 500,000 people and caused dozens of rivers and reservoirs to overflow. (More China stories.)

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