by Our Foreign Desk

CHEERS rang out in Nepal’s capital Kathmandu yesterday as rescuers pulled 15-year-old Pemba Tamang alive from the earthquake rubble he had been trapped in for five days. 

The joy interrupted a dreary and still fearful day in which thousands, worried by frequent aftershocks, lined up to board free buses to their rural home towns.

Hundreds applauded as Pemba emerged dazed and dusty from the wreckage of a seven-storey building and was carried away on a stretcher.

Nepalese rescuers, supported by a US disaster response team, worked for hours to free him. 

Police officer LB Basnet, who helped rescue him, said that the boy had been surprisingly responsive.

“He thanked me when I first approached him. He told me his name, his address, and I gave him some water. I assured him we were near to him,” said Mr Basnet.

He had been working in a hotel in the building when it began to shake.

“Suddenly the building fell down. I thought I was about to die,” said Pemba, who survived on a supply of ghee while he was trapped.

More than 70 aftershocks stronger than magnitude 3.2 have been recorded in the region by the Indian Meteorological Department in New Delhi over the past five days.

The strongest, registering magnitude 6.9, was on Sunday, said seismology director JL Gautam.

Tens of thousands of people have left the capital on free buses provided by the government this week and this process has been speeded by rainfall that has persuaded people to abandon tents in favour of returning to rural areas.