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Husband saves wife trapped in Haiti

NEW YORK — A young American aid worker — trapped for about 10 hours under the rubble of her mission house that was destroyed in Haiti's earthquake — was rescued by her husband.

Frank Thorp told CBS's "The Early Show" by phone from Haiti today he drove 100 miles to Port-au-Prince once he learned of the quake and dug for more than an hour to free his wife, Jillian, and her co-worker, Charles Dietsch. The two were trapped under about a foot of concrete, he said.

"It was absolutely terrifying," Thorp said.

Thorp said he was in an area about six hours north of the capital when the temblor struck. He got a quick call from his wife telling him she was trapped, and that was all. So he began his long drive toward the devastation.

Arriving at the destroyed house, he said he saw his wife's hand from under the rubble and heard her tell him to keep it together and just get her out.

"We had to pull bricks and bricks and bricks and wood and doors and metal away for at least an hour before we were able to get her and her co-worker out," he said.

The executive director of Haitian Ministries for the Diocese of Norwich, Conn., Emily Smack, told CBS a security guard at the mission house is still missing. A housecleaner had severe injuries and could lose both legs, she said.

Jillian Thorp's father, Clay Cook of Old Saybrook, Conn., described his daughter and son-in-law as "a strong couple" who each had their own trial to endure.

"Jill was pinned in the rubble and Frank was driving through the darkness, not sure what was waiting for him at the end of the drive," he said.

The 7.0-magnitude tremor caused massive destruction in the Haitian capital. Untold numbers remain trapped, and the death toll has so far been impossible to calculate.

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