AMATRICE, ITALY — A pet cat was miraculously found after being trapped under rubble from the Amatrice earthquake for several days.
The Local Italy reports that Daniela Tursini fled her home during the magnitude 6.2 earthquake that hit central Italy in the early hours of Aug. 23. Her cat Gioia jumped out of her hands as she was being rescued, and got left behind.
Tursini’s house collapsed in an aftershock the next day, trapping the animal inside. Believing the beloved cat was all she had left, she begged rescue firemen to help find her pet.
Despite the slim chances of finding the gray and white cat alive and well, rescuers dug through the rubble. As a bulldozer moved away the debris, a firefighter spotted the feline in a room that remained intact. Despite being dehydrated, Gioia was very much alive.
Gioia was given water, and she and Daniela were happily reunited.
A number of animals had been rescued after the tragic incident, but none survived in the quake zone as long as Gioia, according to the Telegraph.
