“If you have seen the rubble and the situation in which this woman found herself, you can speak of a real miracle”, testified the fire chief, Luc Faes, after the explosion of an apartment building in Turnhout on Friday at 8:15 am, which left 4 dead.
The woman he is talking about is Diane Bellings, she is 70 years old and was stuck for 14 hours under the rubble before being rescued on Friday around 10:45 pm You have to believe that she has a lucky star. Already in 2020, she had escaped a robbery …
“At the time of the explosion, the lady was sitting on a chair at the table. She literally fell a floor lower. We found her there on this chair, bent over the table, ”explained Mr. Faes to our colleagues from HLN and Nieuwsblad.
“We first dug a tunnel from the back. But on the last meter and a half we noticed that there was absolutely no way we could guarantee the safety of the emergency services. And in fact, there was a collapse a few hours later, by this passage. It was very frustrating for the firefighters to stop this first action, but we did not have the right to endanger our own men, ”explained the fire chief.
While digging to save Mrs. Bellings, the first death was observed. After this body was recovered, rescuers started another tunnel to reach Diane. “We dug from the front and it worked. It took a long time because we had to go brick by brick and it was still dangerous ”.
Plates from the ceiling were removed to free the septuagenarian, who was finally released around 10:45 p.m. “It was a miracle that she made it out alive,” commented Mr. Faes. On Sunday, the miraculous woman testified from her hospital bed. “I don’t have the words to describe how grateful I am to the firefighters”
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