US husband saves wife trapped in Haiti rubble

[demoleft]

Source: ap

NEW YORK – A young American aid worker — trapped for about 10 hours under the rubble of her mission house that was destroyed in Haiti's earthquake — has been rescued by her husband.

Frank Thorp told CBS's "The Early Show" by phone from Haiti on Wednesday that he drove 100 miles to Port-au-Prince once he learned of the quake, and dug for over an hour to free his wife, Jillian, and her co-worker Charles Dietsch. The two were trapped under about a foot of concrete, he said.

"It was absolutely terrifying," Thorp said.

Thorp said he was in an area about 6 hours north of the capital when the temblor struck. He got a quick call from his wife telling him she was trapped, and that was all. So he began his long drive toward the devastation.


Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100113/ap_on_re_us/us_us_haiti_americans

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good news in the tragedy.

[Enrique]

1. nice going Frank

way to make husbands everywhere look lame in comparison. :thumbsup:

[Robb]

4. LOL no kidding.

Good for him, though. Talk about seizing the moral high ground for any and all future marital discussions. :D

[MicaelS]

16. No kidding is right...

"Hey remember that time I dug you out of rubble of the collapsed house? So when will dinner be ready?" :beer:

[JNelson6563]

30. Good one

:toast:

[EFerrari]

40. My ex would have told me to call back after the movie.

[architect359]

2. Way to go, Frank! n/t

[redwitch]

3. That is good news.

I cannot imagine being trapped under the rubble, the thought terrifies me. These poor people. It is a nightmare.

[jbnow]

9. You're right... and also the horror for the people who love those who are trapped

Imagine the horror of being a parent whose child is in the rubble. You'd rather be in there yourself. What a helpless feeling for the trapped and those seeking to free them in the midst of so much...
I hope we have gotten the equipment in there that they needed to speed up the search.

[redwitch]

10. I heard someone on CNN this AM say

there is little to no earth moving equipment there. I would have thought that after last year's hurricanes there would be at least that level of preparedness.

I actually watched American Idol last night, something I haven't done before. My friend was all excited about it on facebook so I watched to escape the news. Hubby had the history channel on all afternoon yesterday and it was all disaster all the time. About what would happen when the big one hit California and about bridges collapsing and levee breaks and our crumbling infrastructure. I was starting to feel panicky. And then we heard the news from Haiti. I knew if I watched all night I wouldn't sleep. Again. All we can do is send a few meager dollars and pray for them. I cannot rid myself of the feeling of impending doom and I need to stop that. I know my sense of impending doom is better than their actual doom.

[jbnow]

41. You are right about all we can do. It is so little but the

cumulative effect adds up to something and there are people trained to help.

That sense of impending doom isn't surprising... even knowing we have more preparedness here or whatever we don't have any control over huge things happening. Teutonic plates and nature do their things... I am glad I didn't see all that you did!
If watching all the disaster we can could prevent it then we should watch but it doesn't.

But I hope you do move your attention elsewhere. Like you know that se3nse you have doesn't make anything there (or here) less bad. Neither does just not watching
The stronger and happier and more centered you feel the better. Heck we deal with even bad things that come better when we are okay. See a movie, read a novel, watch some TV that entertains or amuses you, go for walks.
Good reminder for me too whether it is disasters like this or political things that burn you out.

Take care

[TheModernTerrorist]

5. hmm

I don't mean to sound cynical or anything, but I wonder how many other lives he could've saved in that amount of time.
Saving your wife is obviously important, I'm not denying that. But I don't get caught up in these types of stories... I'm sure others could've been saved. Hopefully his efforts helped other people out as well :-)


Sorry if I'm pissing on anyone's parade.

[closeupready]

6. I would move heaven and earth to do everything in my power

to save my loved ones first.

As a matter of fact, though I no longer consider myself Catholic, church doctrine holds that family comes before community.

[Renew Deal]

7. Him digging her out meant someone else didn't have to.

:shrug:

[drm604]

8. You're criticizing basic human nature.

I hear what you're saying, but we all look to the welfare of our families first, followed by friends. That's just the way we're put together, and it's what most of us here would do when push comes to shove.

Hopefully, being able-bodied and uninjured by the quake, he will continue his efforts for others in that area, but after digging for hours he may be physically exhausted.

[redwitch]

11. Her life is worth as much as an anonymous person.

Right? And as someone has already said, that meant someone else was freed up to save another.
It's not like he callously stepped over other bodies to get hers out.

[ElmoBlatz]

12. You and the wife not getting along too well these days?

[Regret My New Name]

24. lol

That made me laugh...

[madmom]

14. Because he knew WHERE she was, as opposed to just digging around looking maybe?

[yellowcanine]

15. If her were an Emergency Response worker you might have a point.

But just an average Joe who responds to a call for help from his wife - no, your point is not valid. Saving his wife did not take him away from saving someone else. In fact he did save someone else - the coworker.

[change_notfinetuning]

18. And I doubt he's sitting at the bar having a margarita now. I'd bet he's

doing everything he can to help others right now.

[MicaelS]

17. If you think a person

Should sacrifice their spouse for a complete stranger, I would not want to be married to you.

[bitchkitty]

19. I'm sure he stopped along the way

to dig out everyone else. In fact, I'm sure he stopped digging to give change to a beggar, just not to appear ungrateful.

[GinaMaria]

22. Don't you feel spouses have an obligation

to protect and help each other? Why else enter into the partnership, except to form a team and function as one team. Partner choice is so important. You have to choose someone you would risk everything for and choose someone who would risk everything for you. Sounds like these two are a good match.

[TheModernTerrorist]

25. don't get yourselves in a tizzy...

I'm just merely saying that I HOPE he is doing everything he can to maybe help save other lives.
Yes, he saved his wife.
Yes, he saved her coworker.
And that's great. I'd do the same. I'd be the first to admit that. And we're all lucky we don't have to experience that.

But not everyone has the resources to do so.
We're talking "Haiti" here. Not exactly the richest nation on Earth. There are plenty of people on that island that are not blessed with the ability to do what he did. So while its fine and dandy that he was lucky enough to save his wife, seems no one is really paying attention to those who don't get that chance.

All I was saying is that I hope he finds a humanitarian spark in him from rescuing his wife. There are others on that island that could sure use his help. :-)

[truthisfreedom]

26. Who did you save?

just askin'.

[freeplessinseattle]

31. seriously, I always suspect that those who bitch about who

is being helped is doing precious little themselves.

[TheModernTerrorist]

37. I'm not in Haiti

but I give money and do whatever I can when I can. What have you done?

[TheModernTerrorist]

35. I am not in Haiti

but I give money and do whatever I can when I can. How about you?

[Missy Vixen]

29. I'm speechless

I've been here since 2001. Feel free to check my profile to see my DU number. This is one of the more unbelievable posts I've ever read here.

You're castigating the guy involved -- already an aid worker in Haiti, if you read the article -- for pulling his wife and her co-worker out of their collapsed home first. You're also implying the guy involved wasn't interested in saving someone else?

"Humanitarian spark", huh?

Get some help. Truly.

[TheModernTerrorist]

36. Who's saying I castigated the guy?

All I said was I can't jump on the joy bandwagon when there's possibly thousands of people less fortunate than him that need saving.
Save your joy for later, when this mess is over and Haitians can stop eating clay discs and whatnot.

[kestrel91316]

38. Go fly down there and start digging, buddy, before you spend one more fucking second

yapping and whining about how somebody saved his own wife and presumably many more lives today.

[Crabby Appleton]

27. What a stupid comment

[xxqqqzme]

28. If he was that far away, he was not in the destruction.

Heard last night Rachael Maddow talking to an NBC reporter in Haiti but he said he was about 90 miles away and there was very little damage where he was because there were no concrete block buildings. He also said because the roads were in such horrible shape (no maintenance, very little paving) in Haiti it would take him at least 6 hours to go those 90 miles.

[Brickbat]

32. His wife is an AID WORKER. I'm sure his rescue will be paid back many times in the coming days.

You're not pissing on anyone's parade -- you're drooling around the foot in your mouth.

[Guilded Lilly]

33. I can step around

the puddle of *piss* and applaud this man's love for his wife.
I'm thrilled for both of them.

[marshall]

34. He also dug out his wife's colleague

It mentions that in the article.

[proteus_lives]

39. That's a terrible Vulcan impression.

[Bette Noir]

13. That's a good husband.

[GinaMaria]

20. Just when we need them the most, husbands find a way

to be our heros. Great story.

[dave29]

21. The sad part is it's not like any of them are safe, still.

They need to get off that island, or away from any structures that may collapse.

[heliarc]

23. When my daughter was seriously injured....

it was a 20 minute drive to where she was airlifted, and those 20 minutes were the longest of my life... I can only imagine what that 6 hour drive felt like... Frank Thorp must be a very happy man right now in an ocean of sadness.