Indonesia earthquake: French rescuers fail to find any survivors trapped under hotel wreckage

Palu (Indonesia), Oct 5: French rescuers who had undertaken a search operation to rescue people who were stuck inside a hotel in Indonesia's Sulawesi Island which got hit by earthquake a week ago said that they were unable to find any "sign of life" in the place.

The five-member team from French organization Pompiers de l'urgence said late Thursday (Oct 4) its life-searching sensor "detected the presence of a victim" under thick concrete in the wreckage of the Mercure Hotel in Palu.

The device can pick up breathing and heartbeats, but the team also cautioned gas leaks and other factors can result in false positives. The team stopped digging overnight.

But after an hour of searching Friday morning, team member Philip Besson said they couldn't find the signal again. He didn't give further details. Local rescuers were continuing to dig at the site.

Sulawesi Island in Indonesia got hit by a massive earthquake last week. Many people lost their lives in the calamity. With the help of rescuers, search operations to save the trapped people are underway.

PTI