Ma was at a meeting when the magnitude 8.0 earthquake ravaged a six-story office building, and he was trapped in the debris of the second floor, which presented huge difficulties for rescuers.

The 31-year-old survivor was pulled out by a Shanghai rescue team who took more than 30 hours to dig a 10-meter-deep tunnel.

Rescuers found Ma in the afternoon of May 18 when they were digging a hole trying to reach Yu Jinhua, a colleague of Ma.

After an amputation operation, Yu was rescued at about 6:00 p.m. on May 18. Rescuers then turned to Ma and sent sweetened water to him through a straw.

The collapsed building left little room for rescuers to reach Ma. More than 100 members of the Shanghai Police and Firefighters Disaster Rescue Team, by resorting to equipment including mechanized hammers and shovels, dug inch by inch and endured the warm weather.

Nearly 30 hours later, they chiseled through about 10 heaped cement slabs, and opened a tunnel of nearly 10 meters long.

Ma suffered lacerations to his abdomen but was conscious when being pulled out. At 2:56 p.m., doctors took him to a hospital in Chongqing for further treatment.

Doctors with the Xinqiao Hospital in Chongqing said Ma was in a stable condition and a stable mood. He asked for water during the trip to Chongqing. He is staying in an intensive care unit in the hospital.