Thursday, October 13 2005 12:35 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Muzaffarabad (PoK): A timely tap in the rubble by a British team of volunteers, who spend their weekends training on demolition sites, saved the life of a man trapped under a beam in this quake-devastated city.

"We walked down the lanes soon after we arrived on Tuesday (Oct 11, 2005) calling out and tapping in the rubble hoping to get a response," said Stef Hopkins, leader of the Search and Rescue Assistance in Disasters (SARAID), whose first experience with disasters was the 2001 earthquake in Gujarat.

"At one house we all got very excited when we heard an answering tap," Hopkins told AFP.

The positive response saw the 15-strong team swing into action.

Using the skills they had fine-tuned during their weekends training in Gloucester, western England, within a few hours they had dug through the rubble and rescued the man, estimated to be in his 70s.

"He was very disoriented," said Hopkins. "It seemed he was blind and for a while did not seem to be able to see us but later he appeared to understand what was going on and thanked us and praised us."

With no sign of any family members and with the man in need of care after spending more than 80 hours trapped under a beam, they transferred him to a medical unit and have no idea of his subsequent fate.

The rescue work yesterday also faced fresh challenges. Members of a family said their 20-year-old daughter had failed to rush out of the house in time and was trapped inside.

"They believed she had died but there was no smell (of a dead body) so we decided to bring in a dog," said Hopkins, 39.

The dog twice indicated the presence of a living being by barking as trained to do.

"We thought the girl might still be alive so we have decided to try find her," Hopkins said last night, as members of his team burrowed their way painstakingly into the collapsed house.

"This is a very dangerous job because the walls could collapse and bring down the roof. We have to give stability by propping up the walls. It will be a slow job, it may take around 24 hours."

He and his team, comprising among others a financial consultant, a structural engineer, a fireman, an insurance manager and the only woman in the team, a chemist shop assistant, are used to going without sleep.

"We train for it," said Hopkins. "We meet on Friday night at a demolition site, hide some people really well in the rubble and then we look for them. Sometimes it takes us until Sunday morning. We try to simulate disaster conditions."

The most recent call of duty for Hopkin's team was in Sri Lanka after the December 26 Tsunami struck, killing around 31,000 people and leaving around one million homeless on the island nation alone.

"We provided humanitarian assistance, there was no search and rescue there," said Hopkins.