Woman Pulled From Quake Rubble After Five Days

A woman has been pulled alive from rubble five days after the devastating earthquake in Nepal, police have said.

Emergency worker Roman Schulze said French, Israeli and Norwegian rescuers took 10 hours to clear wreckage and get the woman - named as Krishna Kumari Khadka - to safety.

Reports of the rescue emerged hours after a 15-year-old boy was freed from a collapsed hotel in Kathmandu, as hopes of finding survivors had been starting to fade.

The rescue of Pemba Tamang was hailed as a miracle and greeted with cheers by crowds amid the disaster, which has killed more than 5,500 people.

Caked in dust, Pemba was fitted with a neck brace and hooked up to an intravenous drip before being lifted onto a stretcher and then raced to a field hospital where he was found to have only minor cuts and bruises.

He told AFP he had survived by eating clarified butter from a jar he found in darkness and added: "I never thought I would make it out alive."

Pemba, who worked at the hotel as a bellboy, said he had been eating lunch next to reception when the ground started shaking.

He said: "I tried to run but... something fell on my head and I lost consciousness - I've no idea for how long.

"When I came round, I was trapped under the debris and there was total darkness.

"I heard other people's voices screaming out for help around me ... but I felt helpless."

Asked if he had had anything to eat while he was trapped, Pemba said he had come across a jar of ghee in the wreckage.

"I don't know where it came from," he added.

From a tragedy that has yielded little positive news, another heartwarming story emerged in the form of a photograph showing a four-month-old baby pulled from the rubble on Sunday.

A team from the Nepalese army had given up hope of finding Sonit Awal when his father heard faint cries in the ruins of the family home.

The soldiers returned and found the baby alive after 22 hours trapped in the dirt.

Meanwhile, the Foreign Office said that a British dual national killed in the disaster was Hemchandra Rai, 42, a married father of three who lived in Hong Kong.

The Nepalese government has struggled to fully assess the destruction caused by Saturday's 7.9-magnitude quake - prompting public anger over the time it is taking to distribute aid.

The United Nations estimates that £270m is required simply to tide over Nepal, where 1.4 million people are in urgent need of food and 600,000 homes have been destroyed or severely damaged.

Prime Minister Sushil Koirala has warned the death toll could reach 10,000, with information on casualties and damage from far-flung villages and towns yet to come in.

More than 100 Britons who were left stranded in Nepal have now arrived home.

Three Royal Air Force CH47 Chinook helicopters will be sent from RAF Brize Norton to Nepal to help with the recovery and rebuilding effort, while the UK will also provide £2.5m to the UN's Humanitarian Air Service, International Development Secretary Justine Greening has said.

Meanwhile, climbing is to resume on Mount Everest by next week despite an earthquake-triggered avalanche that left 18 people dead.

The avalanche ripped through base camp and destroyed ladders on the treacherous Khumbu icefall higher up the mountain.