Ramlan, right, recuperates in a makeshift tent outside an earthquake-damaged hospital in Padang. Photograph: Tim O'Connor/Caritas/PA
Guardian.co.uk, Friday 9 October 2009 13.35 BST - An 18-year-old construction worker who was trapped in the rubble of a building that collapsed during the earthquake in Indonesia escaped after sawing off his own leg.
Ramlan, from Padang, was working on the seventh floor of a building under construction when the quake hit the city on 30 September.
Ramlan's leg was crushed beneath a falling concrete girder as he and his colleagues fled the building, leaving him trapped and alone.
Ramlan attempted to pull his leg free so he could escape to safety, but found himself trapped. He was able to reach a hoe, and began to hack at his leg, but the blade was too blunt to penetrate the bone.
Fortunately, his mobile phone had survived undamaged, and Ramlan was able to telephone his friend and colleague Eman, who returned to the building to help.
Eman, 53, located a trowel, and handed it to Ramlan, who continued to hack at the crushed limb, but again found he could not penetrate the bone. Eman then found him a saw, and Ramlan began to saw through his leg, but by now was too weak to continue.
Eman, who lives in the same street as Ramlan and calls him Adik, which translates as "little brother", took over and amputated the leg before winding his T-shirt around the wound and carrying Ramlan to the Yos Sudarso hospital in Padang. Doctors there were able to staunch the bleeding, and performed a more orthodox amputation higher up the limb.
Speaking to Caritas charity worker Tim O'Connor yesterday, Eman said he did not think of his own safety.
"I just thought I have to save my friend and I raced back up to where he was," Eman said. "I did not think of the danger just of the welfare of my friend."
