Survivor In Good Shape After 17 Days In Rubble [VIDEO]

The woman who was found alive today in the wreckage of a collapsed garment factory building in Bangladesh is in remarkably good shape after her 17-day ordeal.

She survived by eating dried food that was in the area where she was trapped, and by drinking from bottles of water that were with her.

The woman, a seamstress named Reshma, was found on the second floor of the collapsed eight-story building. Crews have been focused on recovering bodies, and not on rescuing survivors, for much of the past two weeks. The number of bodies found is now above 1,000.

Speaking to a TV station from her hospital bed, Reshma said she had heard the voices of the searchers in the past several days, and that she kept hitting the debris with sticks and rods to get her attention. But she says nobody heard her.

Once she got their attention, the crews ordered the cranes and bulldozers to stop work. They used handsaws and welding and drilling equipment to cut through the debris still trapping her. They gave her water, oxygen and saline as they worked to free her.

After 40 minutes, she was free, and a crowd of spectators erupted in wild cheers. She was rushed to a military hospital in an ambulance, but her rescuers said she was in shockingly good condition.

(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved)