Nepal earthquake: 101-year-old survivor pulled from rubble seven days after quake struck

The death toll from the disaster is now more than 7,200

Funchu Tamang, 101, sits on a bed in a hospital in Nuwakot district on May 3, 2015, after being rescued from his collapsed home a day earlier (AFP/Getty Images)

A man aged 101 has reportedly been pulled from rubble in the aftermath of the Nepal earthquake, one week after the disaster that has killed more than 7,200 people struck.

Police official Arun Kumar Singh told the AFP News Agency that the man, identified as Funchu Tamang, was rescued on Saturday from his collapsed home in the Nuwakot district, around 80 kilometres (50 miles) northwest of Kathmandu.

He was described as having only suffered minor injuries and officials said he was recovering in hospital.

Funchu Tamang was pulled alive from his ruined home a week after Nepal's earthquake that has claimed at least 7,200 lives, as the government warned Sunday the death toll will climb 'much higher' (AFP/Getty Images)

It came as rescuers in the mountainous village of Syauli reported finding three survivors trapped in the rubble, two men and a woman.

Government administrator Surya Prasad Upadhaya said on Sunday that the trio had been found earlier this week, some days after the quake hit last Saturday (25 April).

The district in which Syauli lies is the worst-hit by the magnitude-7.8 earthquake, having recorded the highest number of casualties. The three survivors were taken to a nearby military hospital for treatment, Upadhaya said.

The death toll has now climbed to 7,250, including six foreigners and 45 Nepalese found over the weekend on a popular trekking route, said government administrator Gautam Rimal. The victims included a French national, an Indian, four other foreigners and Nepalese guides, hotel owners, workers and porters.

Runway damage has forced the closure of Kathmandu's main airport, threatening to hamper the delivery of aid to millions of people following the massive earthquake, though UN officials said the overall logistics situation in the country was improving.

According to the country’s Home Ministry, 14,123 people were injured in the quake and of them, 6,512 are being treated in the country's overstretched hospitals. Laxi Dhakal, a Home Ministry official, said hopes of finding survivors had faded dramatically. "Unless they were caught in an air pocket, there is not much possibility," he said.