Married Couple Planned Death

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30196, 30 July 1963, Page 13

Married Couple Planned Death

(N Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright) SKOPJE, July 29. Y esterday two Belgians were pulled from the Hotel Macedonia after 56 hours under piles of rock and rubble, and before that a French girl staggered from the ruins after being cushioned between two mattresses.

The hotel porter was dug out. AH four were only slightly injured. Rescuers are still working round the clock for trapped aod injured survivors. Mrs Suzy Jacquemart was found when a soldier working on the rubble pile thought he heard faint voices coming from beneath his feet. Professional miners who had come down with a team from a coal-mining area in Serbia, began to dig frantically Five of them dug their way down until they reached the woman. Then they dug on. uncovering a section of concrete wall which they began to drill through. Rescuers, wearing gas masks and rubber gloves, moved inch by inch to reach Mrs Jacquemart and her husband, both biologists from Brussels. ■ Mrs Jacquemart, apparently unhurt, smiled and then fainted as she was lifted clear A nine-man rescue team of miners, mountain rescue men. an engineer and a doctor, dug on into the debris. Then a hand poked up out of a crack in the piles of shattered stone and voices in F.ench cried out: “Water, water.” Oxygen tanks were rushed to the opening. Air was pumped in under high pressure. A taint voice called out: “What was it . . . what happened . . was it a bomb . my God. what happened. . . The miners drilled through the concrete wall and pressed a bottle of water into the black cavity behind it. A sobbing voice asked: ‘Where are wet What happened?” Half an hour later Mr Serge Jacquemart was pulled free He said he had heard other voices from underneath the masses of concrete beams and smashed walls of the former four-storey hotel.

More miners were immediately called in, and tonight rescue operations were still going on. Many people are still searching for relatives. In one housing block alone, all are feared dead. Mrs Jacquemart, who is aged 32, confirmed from her hospital bed tonight she and her husband had contemplated suicide. She said: “If we were not rescued in a few hours, Serge and I were going to cut our wrists and die together.” She added: “It was awful We could hear people talking and walking about. “The miners who rescued us could be heard moving above and we kept shouting for help. “Our being saved was a mincle after we had given up hope and planned to kill ourselves ” Her husband said: “We were lucky to be saved. . . . “We had awakened early, minutes before the earthquake struck the city. It was about 5.15 am, I was just rising. “My wife was sitting opposite me on the edge of her bed

“We planned to get on the road early. “Suddenly, everything started shaking. I grabbed my wife and held her tightly in my arms.

“Everything coll a p s e d around us We fell two storeys. “Fortunately, two wooden beams and the ceiling fell above us, forming a small dome which protected us. “My legs were pinned under bricks and I was unable to move. My wife, however, was unhurt and could crawl and move about our prison. “We had given up hopes of being saved. “We could see daylight coming through cracks in the ruins

“We knew approximately how many hours we were in the ruins.

“We never slept but closed our eyes for minutes at a time and saw visions.” .