Woman dies saving granddaughter from collapsed building in China

A Chinese grandmother died while shielding her 15-month-old granddaughter from being crushed by a landslide that toppled their house around them, reports say.

State broadcaster CCTV played footage of rescuers in south-western China’s Sichuan province retrieving the child from the rubble of her home after being trapped for seven hours.

Rescuers described how the girl’s grandmother, Pan Guofen, apparently used her body to protect the child against a large concrete slab, forming an arch by kneeling on all fours, her hands clenched into fists.

The girl was safely ensconced under the arch but her grandmother’s head was crushed by a brick and she did not survive, the reports said.

Torrential rain has triggered floods and landslides in Sichuan and other parts of China in recent days.