CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand — Clutching her groom, she looked like any beaming bride. But Emma Howard’s trip down the aisle Friday almost didn’t happen.
Just 72 hours earlier she was trapped under a building that collapsed in an earthquake.
The 23-year-old was rescued nearly six hours after sending a frantic text to her fiance, who helped pull her out.
“I got this text . . . saying ‘It’s Emma here. I’m OK and I love you very much,’ ” said Chris Greenslade, who was outside his office across town when disaster struck Tuesday and raced to find Howard.
Coming around the side of her building, he was horrified to find a tangled pile of metal beams and concrete, with the roof pancaked at a 45-degree angle. “It was honestly the worst thing I’ve ever felt in my life,” he said.
The office tower was destroyed, and Howard was trapped in a tiny cavity between collapsed floors.
Greenslade dug through the debris, pulling others free as he tried to reach Howard. He then helped direct the rescue crews that eventually found her.
After her rescue, “I said to people, ‘When I was in there I was thinking, I’m meant to be married in three days,’ ” she said. “And they said to me, ‘You still are.’ “
