KATHMANDU, Nepal — A man pulled from the rubble of a collapsed hotel more than three days after the Nepal earthquake said he was forced to drink his own urine to survive.
Rishi Khanal, 27, had just finished lunch at a hotel in Kathmandu and had gone up to the second floor when everything suddenly started to move and fall apart. He was struck by falling masonry and trapped with his foot crushed under rubble.
"I had some hope but by yesterday I'd given up. My nails went all white and my lips cracked ... I was sure no one was coming for me. I was certain I was going to die," he told The Associated Press from his hospital bed Wednesday, surrounded by his family.
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He was surrounded by dead people and a terrible smell. But he kept banging on the rubble and eventually a French rescue team heard the noise and extracted him in a lengthy operation. He had been trapped for 82 hours following the earthquake that his killed more than 5,000 people.
"There was no sound going out, or coming in. I kept banging against the rubble and finally someone responded and came to help. I hadn't eaten or had anything to drink so I drank my own urine."