“An authentic miracle” – this is how medical staff described the extraordinary story of 83-year-old Maria Conceição Fernandes, rushed into casualty after being rescued from three hours pinned underneath a 300-kilo cement pole in 30º temperatures.
The elderly woman from São Romão da Ucha, Barcelos, had apparently been screaming for help all that time, “to the point where she lost her voice”, firemen who finally rescued her told Correio da Manhã newspaper.
The pole is reported to have fallen on her while Maria Conceição was working in a recently ploughed field.
The field is 600 metres at least from the nearest house, and it was only the chance passing by of another agricultural worker that rescued the woman from an even worse fate.
As it was, Maria Conceição was found to have suffered a number of fractures.
“It was incredible,” fireman Carlos Ferraz told CM. “She had been calling for help for more than three hours, with a number of injuries on a really hot day and yet when we got there she was lucid and knew exactly what was going on.”
