Taipei, Feb. 9 (CNA) A woman who was rescued from the rubble of a collapsed building by the Taiwan Search & Rescue Team in Turkey Wednesday night died shortly afterwards at a local hospital, according to the Taipei City Fire Department on Thursday.
She was pronounced dead by a doctor at around 9:30 p.m. on Wednesday local time after efforts to resuscitate her failed, Liao Wan-ju (廖婉如), a medical advisor with the department whose members are part of the team, said during a press conference in Taipei.
The team, which worked alongside Turkish rescuers, heard the sound of the woman trapped under rubble at around 3:40 p.m. Wednesday while working in Turkey's Adiyaman Province.
At one point during the rescue mission, the woman lost vital signs.
It took five hours for the rescue team to pull her from the collapsed building at around 8:40 p.m. after a field amputation was performed. Rescuers subsequently were able to revive the woman and rushed her to a nearby hospital at 9:20 p.m.
Wang Tse-yao (王則堯), a physician who was at the scene, had initially sought to preserve the woman's limb but as time was of the essence it was decided to amputate the limb to save her life, Liao explained.
"It was a critical situation," she said, as individuals trapped under rubble for extended periods of time are prone to developing compartment syndrome.
When this occurs, high levels of potassium in the blood due to rhabdomyolysis can lead to cardiac arrest after a person is extricated from the rubble when blood flow suddenly returns, Liao added.
Liu Kuei-yu (劉奎佑), deputy chief of Taipei City Urban Search & Rescue, said the woman's left leg was amputated below the knee.
The search and rescue mission in Turkey has proven to be quite challenging due to the extremely cold weather in the country, with temperatures falling below zero degrees Celsius at night, Liu said.
That challenge is topped by the "pancake mode" collapse of the buildings which forces rescue workers to work in tight spaces as they try to pull survivors from the rubble, he added.
