Aron Ralston, who survived his pocketknife surgery to write a book about it — made into the film "127 Hours" — with actor James Franco at a news conference to promote the film at the 35th Toronto International Film Festival, September 12, 2010. — Reuters pic
CHRISTCHURCH, Feb 25 — Doctors in New Zealand were forced to use a Swiss Army knife to amputate the legs of a man trapped by fallen masonry and rubble in the first hours after the earthquake on Tuesday, media reports said today.
In a drama reminiscent of American mountaineer Aron Ralston's use of a pocket blade to sever his own arm after being trapped by a boulder, Dr Stuart Philip said there was no choice but to use a Swiss knife or the man would have died.
"There wasn't really any other option," Philip told the Dominion Post newspaper. "Essentially the procedure was performed with a Swiss Army knife. I know that sounds terrible, but that's all we had."
Philip, a New Zealand-born urologist based in Australia, had been in the city for a medical conference when the 6.3 magnitude quake hit, killing 113 people and with hundreds more still missing.
He said he helped another woman doctor perform the operation underneath the collapsed Pyne Gould Corporation building after crawling through the rubble for more than five hours in a desperate search for survivors.
The woman doctor operated on the 52-year-old man, known only as Brian, because she was small enough to fit into the tiny space around him.
A builder eventually turned up with a hacksaw, which helped complete the amputation procedure, Philip said. An anaesthetist had also been on hand to help with pain relief, but had not had the equipment to stop the agony of the operation completely.
More than 250 doctors and nurses had been in Christchurch for a urological surgery conference, with many rushing to help people trapped and injured in the quake.
"At one stage when we were having aftershocks and the rubble was falling, we weren't sure if we were going to make it out alive," Philip said.
Photographs of many of the missing covered front pages of local newspapers today, a day after authorities began releasing names of people they said they had grave fears about.
Streets across the country, including in the capital Wellington, have been relatively quiet since the quake as people stay home to watch the still-unfolding rescue, and with searchers still arriving from across the world.
Friends posted messages of tribute on Facebook pages as hopes faded that anyone could still be alive as the rescue effort entered its fourth day.
"I will never forget our road trip across Europe where you took on a huge 18-wheeler truck with our little minivan," wrote a woman named only as Tina on the page of 41-year Melissa Neale. "What a trip! The great memories will never fade. RIP my gorgeous little Hobbit." — Reuters
