Soldiers pulled a man alive from the rubble of a large mosque flattened by an earthquake on the Indonesian island of Lombok, while thousands of homeless locals waited for aid Tuesday and stranded tourists camped at beaches and in the lobbies of damaged hotels. The north of Lombok has been devastated by the magnitude 7.0 quake that struck Sunday night, damaging thousands of buildings and killing at least 98 people. Rescuers are still struggling to reach all of the affected areas and authorities expect the death toll to rise. Disaster officials have not said how many people they believe are buried beneath the ruins of the Jabal Nur mosque, but a rescue worker tells the AP that about 50 people were praying inside when it collapsed.
Video shot by a soldier shows rescuers shouting "Thank God" as a man is pulled from a space under the mosque's flattened roof sometime on Monday and he staggers away from the ruins supported by soldiers. "You're safe, mister," says one of the soldiers as emotion overcomes the man, clad in Islamic robes, and villagers crowd around him. Disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho says he hopes "a lot" of people can be saved from the mosque. Two people were rescued from the building Monday, including a woman with a broken leg, says villager Supri Yono, and three were found dead. Rescuers were using heavy duty cutting equipment on Tuesday to pry apart the tangled mound of debris.
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