A woman has told how she was astonished to find her pig had survived being buried under the rubble of her house for 45 days after an earthquake destroyed her village in south-west China.

The villager – named as Ms Deng in local media – thought nothing could have lived through the earthquake that levelled her home in Luding County, in the province of Sichuan on 5th September.

She told local media she was forced to evacuate in a hurry leaving everything behind and was certain her pig had been crushed to death.

Ms Deng and other villagers were moved to a nearby resettlement site in Prosperity Village, Detuo Town.

Then more than a month later officials took the villagers to their old homes to pick up personal effects but Ms Deng heard a faint noise coming from the ruins.

She said: “The sound was very small, and it came from under the bamboo roof. I felt that there were living things inside, but I didn’t expect it to be my pig.”

She looked through the gap and was amazed to find her pig still alive.

Ms Deng said: “When I saw it was still alive, I cried with excitement.”

She added: “After being buried, the pig could only eat the corn that fell from the roof, and had almost no water to drink, except for the occasional rainwater that seeped down.”

Ms Deng said that the pig lost half its weight but it was still very strong and that she felt sorry for it.

In video footage of the rescue, a neighbour can be seen chainsawing through the bamboo to reach the trapped porker.

Ms Deng said: “Its legs are no longer straight, it’s been shaking, it kneels out and it’s covered in ashes.”

She filmed the happy rescue and shared it with followers on Douyin – the Chinese version of TikTok.

Many netizens were curious about how Ms Deng will deal with the pig.

She assured them she will take good care of it and help it regain its weight.