CNN 2010-01-20

we're at the Caribbean Market in -- it's a big supermarket that collapsed 2 in Pour-au-Prince. This is just one of the locations where rescue teams have been frantically 3 working, trying to dig out survivors 4 still alive after nearly five days under the rubble 5.

And I'm joined by Captain Joe Zahralban, he's with the Florida Task Force II Search and Rescue. He's commanding it.

Can you tell me, sir, right now there's an operation underway. You're trying to rescue two people. Can you tell me about them, please?

Yes, we do have an operation underway. We do have two people we are currently speaking with, a male and a female. They are both in good health, however, they are trapped. This one is No. 4 and No. 5 at this location. One of the obstacles that we're having now is this one has become much more difficult, the stakes are much higher due to the fact that we have an area of the structure that has somewhat collapsed.

So, we doubled our rescue efforts, we went from our 40-person team to an 80-person team. We have all feet on the ground and all equipment and they're working feverishly 6 with the best minds thinking of innovative 7 ideas in order to affect the rescue without harming the victim.

And overnight you rescued three other people. Can you tell me about that operation?

Yes. Overnight we did rescue three people. One was a young female child, the second was approximately a 30-year-old male and the third was a 50-year-old female.

An American woman who came out early this morning, right? And you spoke 8 to her son in Florida.

Yes, as a matter of fact, it was an American female and she does have a son that lives in Pembroke Pines, Florida, which is in close proximity 9 to Miami. She also has a sister that showed up here that we spoke with directly and assured her we did find her relative and we provided proper treatment and her relative is on the way to the hospital. So, it's funny that actually the individual who's assisting with the performance of the rescue, actually drilling to get her out was one of our firefighters that come from Pembroke Pines Fire Rescue, the same city that her son lives in.

Can you tell me, how does somebody survive in a five-story concrete deathtrap like this for five days?

Well, when you have a collapse 1 in situations such as earthquakes, you have... in this particular situation, we had a pancake collapse. Even in pancake collapses 10, you have void spaces that enable life to survive. And if you're going to be trapped in any place for an extended period of time, a supermarket is the best place I can think of, because all the food came falling down around the victims and they actually had something to eat while they were waiting to be rescued.

And a final question, what are the conditions your men are working in right now? How much space do they have to operate in as they're boring in on these last two survivors in there?

They are crawling through such tight spaces down through the center of the structure, sometimes to the point where there's impingement on their chest where they can only take half a breath. That's how tight it is, but it's imperative 11 that we get them in there, make contact with the victim and start getting treatment to the victim, start getting water to the victim, and assure the victim that somebody's coming for them. It's important that we keep the victim's spirits up to ensure that survival.