BHUJ, India — Soldiers pulled out three people trapped under rubble for 36 hours, the first found alive under collapsed buildings from India's devastating earthquake. Another powerful tremor Sunday shook the area, where 13,000 are feared dead from the disaster.
An army engineers corps, among the 5,000 Indian soldiers deployed in the state of Gujarat, rescued two men and a girl Saturday afternoon after digging through the fallen masonry of their homes in Bhuj, the town closest to the epicenter of Friday's 7.9-magnitude quake, said Capt. Amartej Singh.
The condition of the three people was not immediately known. It was not known if they were related.
Singh said his unit also recovered 10 bodies. But bolstered by their success in saving three lives, the soldiers started digging on Sunday through another mountain of rubble where a resident said he could hear his brother's voice.
Rambhai Mulshankar, a 40-year-old goldsmith, led the soldiers to his fallen house. "I can even now hear my brother's cries for help," Mulshankar said.
About 2,500 bodies have been recovered so far. One official has said the death toll will reach 13,000 from the 7.9 magnitude temblor that hit Gujarat Friday. The rescue of the three people was the first report of anyone being pulled out alive from the rubble.
On Sunday, an aftershock of about 5.9 magnitude hit the area, said V.K. Shukla, a seismologist at the government meteorology center in India's capital, New Delhi. The exact magnitude has not been calculated, but it is in the range of 5.9 and 6, with an epicenter about 12 miles from the epicenter of Friday's quake, he said.
People rushed out of their homes as they were awakened by the tremor around 6.45 a.m. in Ahmedabad, the commercial capital of Gujarat state, where more than 400 people died in Friday's quake.
Homeless people sleeping in the open in biting cold also were woken up.
While thousands of rescuers clawed at the rubble, stunned survivors waited for authorities to distribute water, food or medicine. Others refused to eat, keeping a tearful vigil as emergency workers' drills bit into concrete in search of their buried loved ones.
In Bhuj district at the quake's epicenter, thousands of terrified people had fled in cars, jeeps and on foot, carrying their belongings. Many had been walking since soon after the temblor struck.
Buses and trucks were forced to stop before a cracked bridge on a dry river that connects the district with the rest of the state.
"We have been walking since morning. We are fleeing for our lives," said Harjivan Vyas, 37, a factory worker in Bhuj town. "There is no drinking water, no food. All houses are destroyed."
Friday's quake struck on Republic Day, a national holiday. It shook the earth for more than 1,200 miles, but it hit hardest in Gujarat state, pulverizing cities and towns and bringing multistory buildings down like houses of cards.
Gujarat Home Minister Haren Pandya said 2,500 bodies had been recovered already and more than 14,000 people were injured. The state's transport minister said the death toll would soar.
"It will be more than 10,000 in the Kutch district alone," Bimal Shah told The Associated Press, referring to the region near the Pakistan border where the quake was centered. "For the rest of the state it would be 2,000 or 3,000."
Shah's comment was based on aerial surveys. His death toll estimate — a much higher number than officials suggested earlier in the day — was an indication that emergency crews had given up hope of finding many survivors under the debris.
Among those buried were 350 children who had been taking part in a parade for Republic Day, which commemorates the adoption of India's constitution 51 years ago. They were marching through a Kutch street when several houses toppled onto them.
The United States was sending $1 million in emergency supplies to India, officials said Saturday.
Supplies including plastic sheeting, blankets, water containers, purification and distribution kits and generators were to arrive in India on Monday, said officials at the U.S. Agency for International Development.
The agency, through the organization CARE, also began distributing 100 metric tons of food. AID also will provide financial assistance to support the work of relief groups already on the ground in Gujarat.