Miracle Survivors in Indian Quake Zone

B H U J, India, Jan. 30 -- A 7-month-old baby, aNew Jersey student and a handful of other survivors wererescued from demolished buildings today, more than four daysafter modern India's worst earthquake claimed tens of thousandsof lives.

Survivors found in mountain of rubble

News of the rescues was a small glimmer of hope against agrimly rising death toll from the quake, which measured 7.9 onthe Richter scale and hit the western state of Gujarat on Friday.

Officials admit that no one really knows how many peopleare buried under the mass of rubble across Gujarat, thoughDefense Minister George Fernandes said that, if his worst fearswere realized, 100,000 people could have died.

"I have said if my worst fears come true, and I hope myworst fears don't come true, then we are looking at a verylarge number of casualties," Fernandes told Reuters. He addedthat his estimate was not speculative.

The state government of Gujarat put the death toll at some20,000 but admits that figure could rise. Tens of thousands arebelieved to have been injured, and hundreds of thousands lefthomeless.

Some 20,000 Indian soldiers, joined by international teamsfrom Britain, France, Russia, Switzerland and Turkey, have beencombing the rubble in search of people still alive.

Glimmers of Hope

Faced with the pervasive stench of rotting corpses,exhausted rescue teams in towns across Gujarat had been near togiving up hope when they found a few people who had survivedmore than four days buried under debris.

In the ancient town of Bhuj, near the epicenter of thequake, a 7-month-old baby boy was found still alive,sitting in the lap of his dead mother, a security officialsaid. The baby was sent to hospital in Bombay.

In the main town of Ahmedabad, 33-year-old Nalini Kumbhareand her 14-month-old son were plucked from their four-story apartment building, severely dehydrated but alive.

"This has given us a lot more enthusiasm," said a beamingrescue worker.