Members of the first search and rescue squad from Taiwan (in orange uniforms), in cooperation with rescuers from El Salvador (in dark), carry a survivor away from the ruins of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force's police barrack in Port-au-Prince, Haiti on Sunday. CNA

UN peacekeeper in 'good shape' after five days under rubble

Port-au-Prince, HAIPI: The first Taiwanese search and rescue squad successfully rescued a survivor Sunday (local time) on the second day of its operations in the earthquake-ravaged Caribbean nation of Haiti.

The survivor, probably a French citizen, was a security guard at the United Nations Peacekeeping Force's police dormitory. He had been buried under the rubble for five days before being rescued.

Chen Shun-tien, one of the Taiwanese squad leaders, said that the survivor was generally in good shape and could speak, although he seemed somewhat weak.

According to Chen, the Taiwanese team rushed to the site of the collapsed police dormitory after receiving an emergency notice from the UN post-quake relief coordination center that gunshots were heard coming from the rubble, which seemed to indicate that a survivor or survivors were under there.

With the assistance of sniffer dogs and sonar equipment, the Taiwanese squad identified the possible location of the survivor, and a well-equipped US search and rescue team pitched in with the required heavy-duty excavation equipment.

At one point, there was some disagreement between the Taiwanese and American rescue squads over the excavation method that should be used, but they soon resolved the issue and the survivor was rescued though a smoothly coordinated effort.

An El Salvador search and rescue team also joined the operations.

The Taiwanese squad's performance was praised by the American and El Salvadoran teams. A representative of the US team expressed his admiration for the Taiwanese crew and described the mission as a perfect example of team cooperation.

Lisandro Alvarenga, head of the El Salvadoran team, also said the operation was a wonderful event. "Nothing is happier than rescuing a survivor," he told the CNA.

Alvarenga attributed the success of the rescue to the Taiwanese squad's accurate identification of the survivor's location.

The Taiwanese team reached the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince Saturday after a long wait in the neighboring Dominican Republic because of air traffic congestion.

After its arrival in Haiti at 1 pm Saturday (local time), the team immediately joined the desperate search for survivors.

The team of 14 specialists, two sniffer dogs and 2,000kg of equipment and medical supplies, including life detectors, reported to a United Nations coordination center to share assignments after responding to a call by the Taiwan diplomatic mission in Haiti to search the collapsed central government building to determine whether anyone was still alive beneath the mountains of rubble.

Since their arrival in Haiti, some members of the team have been providing medical services to the injured.

China Daily/CNA

(HK Edition 01/19/2010 page2)