Rescue at mosque gives hope to searchers

Soldiers have pulled a man alive from the rubble of a large mosque flattened by an earthquake on the Indonesian island of Lombok, while thousands of homeless locals waited for aid yesterday and stranded tourists camped at beaches and in the lobbies of damaged hotels.

The north of Lombok has been devastated by the magnitude 7.0 quake that struck Sunday night, damaging thousands of buildings and killing at least 98 people. Rescuers were still struggling to reach all of the affected areas and authorities expect the death toll to rise.

Disaster officials have not said how many people they believe are buried beneath the ruins of the Jabal Nur mosque but a rescue worker told The Associated Press that about 50 people were praying inside when it collapsed.

Video shot by a soldier shows rescuers shouting ‘‘Thank God’’ as a man is pulled from a space under the mosque’s flattened roof sometime and he staggers away from the ruins supported by soldiers.

‘‘You’re safe, mister,’’ says one of the soldiers as emotion overcomes the man and villagers crowd around him.

Disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said he hopes ‘‘a lot’’ of people can be saved from the mosque.

Two people were rescued from the building yesterday, said villager Supri Yono, and three were found dead. -AP