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A teenage boy was pulled out alive from the rubble of a factory 50 hours after the structure collapsed near Lahore, bringing cheer to his family who had assumed him dead and buried another body they believed to be his.
The rescuers pulled out Muhammad Shahid, 18, on Friday from the debris of the four-story factory which collapsed at an industrial area near Lahore on Wednesday evening.
Shahid's family had assumed him dead after they mistakenly identified a mutilated body in a hospital and held a funeral and buried it.
"The body resembled Shahid and we were in mourning until we saw him alive on TV," Shahid's cousin Kalim Ullah was quoted as saying by local media.
Shahid, who has received injuries on his leg, has been admitted to a hospital and is stated to be in stable condition. The four-storey polythene bag making factory came crashing down on Wednesday evening, and at least 45 bodies have so far been recovered from the wreckage.
At least 150 people were in the factory when it came down. It is believed that over two dozen people are under the debris and hopes were fading for anyone left alive.
According to reports, the factory's owner, who was adding a new floor to the building, had ignored advice from his contractor to stop construction after cracks in the walls following the October 26 earthquake.
The quake of magnitude 7.5 killed more than 300 people in Pakistan and the northern parts of neighbouring Afghanistan and damaged thousands of buildings.
Image: Rescue workers search for survivors after a factory collapsed near the eastern city of Lahore, Pakistan. Photograph: Mohsin Raza/Reuters