U.N. photographer Logan Abassi saves man buried in Haiti for week

His job is to take pictures. Logan Abassi is a photographer for the U.N. On Tuesday, he was following behind police shooting in the air to keep looters under control. He stopped after hearing a voice. He scrambled on top of rubble and found a man alive!

PORT-AU-PRINCE – Ace U.N. photographer Logan Abassi was doing the work he was paid to do - take pictures. He was following along as police fired shots into the air to disperse looters when he stopped short. “ As he passed the rubble of the Haitian public telecommunications building, he was alerted to the possibility of a survivor trapped in the debris,” said the United Nations Mission known as MINUSTAH. Abassi forgot all about his paid job as he scrambled atop the mountain of rubble where he had heard a voice. “Scrambling to the top of the mountain of rubble, he heard a voice and saw the hand of Pierre-Louis Ronny, 43, a telecom worker, which was stuck between two concrete blocks,” said a statement by the U.N. news agency. ”Mr. Ronny said that he was hungry and thirsty, and as the photographer gave him water, he flagged down two trucks carrying Russian search-and-rescue teams on the street,” said his bosses. ”The telecom worker, who was working on the second floor of the building when the 7.0 magnitude tremor struck Port-au-Prince last Tuesday, was pulled from the rubble and given first aid by a Russian doctor,” the U.N. said. Tuesday’s rescue, exactly seven days after the quake struck, was not all that Abassi would have wished for. “Mr. Abassi lamented that the rescued man’s hand will likely be amputated, but expressed satisfaction that Mr. Ronny was able to call his wife to let her know he was alive before being transported to a hospital for care,” said the U.N.