Father gave his own life to save four-year-old girl rescued after 15 hours under rubble in Brazil – World

The four-year-old girl rescued this Saturday alive and with only a few scratches after more than 15 hours under the rubble of her own house, buried by the collapse of a hillside in the Brazilian city of Petrópolis, in the mountainous region of Rio de Janeiro, was saved not only because of the sensitivity of the tracking dog that detected it or the heroic insistence of the firefighters, who used their own hands to dig and not cause another collapse, but, mainly, because of the father’s courage and love. She used her own body to protect little Ayla from the collapse, she died in her last gesture of selflessness, but her sacrifice saved her daughter’s life, as he wanted.

Douglas José da Silva Souza, family members said after the tragedy, was 25 years old and, upon realizing that the house was going to collapse and be buried by tons of mud, rocks and trees that came down from the mountain where the Alto da Independência neighborhood is located, he thought and acted quickly to save at least his daughter. He was sitting in the living room, in an armchair, and, upon realizing the tragedy, he grabbed Ayla and held her tightly against him, protecting her with his body.

When, on Saturday morning, rescue teams finally managed to reach the point in the mountain of rubble where father and daughter were, and where three other members of the family died, Douglas remained in the same position, sitting in the armchair and with his daughter below him. , in a small space where she survived all this time thanks to the sacrifice of her young father.

The young man, family members and rescuers who saw this moving scene believe, must have survived when the house was dragged and buried down the hillside and, using his body and armchair as barriers, while he had the strength, he prevented the girl from being hit by the debris. Douglas’s gigantic effort caused the avalanche to stop behind his back without hitting Ayla, and he must have endured it for so long that, when he finally passed out, the earth above them had already stabilized and did not invade the space where the girl was.