2 injured foreigners treated in hospital

A MAN from France and a Canadian woman were among the injured after the earthquake in southwest China.

Maxence Vallon, 18, a French national, had injuries to his legs while the Canadian woman, who declined to be named, suffered a slight head injury.

Both were being treated at a hospital in Jiuzhaigou County.

Yuan Jin, a doctor specialized in treating bone injuries, said there were stone fragments in Vallon’s right leg, and he needed immediate surgery to prevent infection.

Vallon was traveling with his brother and mother.

“We ran out of the hotel when the earthquake happened. The power was out, so we lay on an open ground. I was lucky, but my brother was hit in the leg by a fallen stone,” said Romain Vallon, who studies aerial engineering at Beijing’s Tsinghua University.

“He bled heavily, and the hotel staff brought towels and white liquor for disinfection. They helped me bind his leg with plastic bags, and one of the staff drove us into a nearby clinic with his private car. There, we waited an hour or so until an ambulance picked us up and delivered us to the county hospital,” he said.

“The medical staff are very efficient. No people got left behind, and everything is in good order,” he said.

“My mother is in panic after the earthquake, and she is recovering from yesterday’s experience. We hope we can return home as soon as possible,” he said.

The Canadian woman will be able to leave hospital within two or three days, doctors said.

“We received excellent care. The rescuers and doctors have been very helpful,” she said.

The exact number of foreign nationals who had been caught up in the disaster, or who had suffered injuries, is not yet available.

The quake zone sits in a region that has been hit by at least three major tectonic earthquakes and other geological disasters over the past decade.