One of the two teams from Norwegian Search and Rescue (Norsar) were working in an area in the centre of the city when they heard the woman’s cries.
Working together with rescue workers from France and Israel, they pulled the woman from the wreckage, after which she was transported to hospital.
The woman, whose name was Krishna Kumari Khadka, was working in a kitchen at the site when the earthquake struck. She was found trapped under the body of another person, who was pronounced dead after being lifted away.
Jens Brovold, a doctor sent out with the 34-strong Norwegian team, led the rescue workers transporting her to the ambulance.
“I’m really humbled and awed by this,” Morten Kvammen, the handler of the rescue dog Gere, who found Khadka, told Aftenposten. “When Gere gets help to ensure that a human life is saved, it is worth all the hours of training and work.”
The discovery will raise confidence among the rescue team, which finally arrived in Kathmandu on Thursday morning after their plane was delayed for almost 30 hours, that they have not arrived too late to save lives.
“It is clear that when we receive such messages, it gives extra motivation. It's good to see that it is still possible to pull people out alive,” Norsay’s Leif Gullstein told Aftenposten.
The UN, which is coordinating the rescue effort in Nepal has split the Norwegian group into two teams, both of which have been deployed in Kathmandu.
The official death count from the Nepalese authorities stood at 5,844 on Thursday afternoon and is expected to continue to rise.
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