Unsung hero Ray Gray was back at his desk today - just 48 hours after returning from the Indian earthquake where he put his own life on the line to rescue six survivors.

The 44-year-old father-of-two from Selby today gave a harrowing insight into one of the world's biggest natural disasters, which is expected to claim 150,000 lives.

As an International Rescue Corps team leader, specialising in tunnelling under collapsed buildings, he also had the appalling task of uncovering more than 500 bodies, including those of dozens of children.

Mr Gray was today back in his office in Leeds, where he works as a full-time Unison officer, but his thoughts were with the homeless people of Bhuj who are still without food, water and electricity.

He said: "We dragged hundreds of dead people out, but there were hundreds more bodies that we couldn't remove. The only thing we could do was tag them for the local authorities to deal with later. We were looking for the living.

"Yes, we cried a lot - you wouldn't be human if you didn't."

Mr Gray, of Primrose Grove, Selby, also shed a few tears when he helped pull six victims alive from the rubble, including an eight-year-old boy.

Speaking to thisisyork, Mr Gray said one man they rescued had a miraculous escape.

His team used chain saws, disc cutters, picks, shovels and wood to shore up the tunnel before reaching the victim, who had been lying on a bed in a multi-storey building for five days.

He said: "Four floors above him had collapsed and come to rest just eight inches from his face. He didn't even have a scratch."

Mr Gray managed just ten hours sleep in seven exhausting days as he worked almost round-the-clock in a race against time.

The rescuers risked their own lives as they were hit by more than 200 "after-shocks", one of which measured six on the Richter scale.

He said: "There was a rumbling noise and then the ground started moving from side-to-side and backwards and forwards with people screaming. It was horrendous.

"We had a few after-shocks while we were working in the tunnels and it was a terrifying experience even for us."

He added: "About 90 per cent of Bhuj has been flattened, and the whole disaster area is about the size of the UK.

"The loss of life and devastation is immense, but we had to switch off and get on with the job."

Mr Gray has been flown at a day's notice to natural and man-made disasters all over the world during the last seven years, including the Rwanda refugee camps, earthquakes in Colombia, Afghanistan, and Turkey, floods in Mozambique and a hurricane in Nicaragua.

His son Stuart, 22, a welder, is now training to join the International Rescue Corps.

Says Mr Gray: "I regard myself as fortunate to be able to give practical help, and I'm really proud of Stuart."

Updated: 14:36 Monday, February 05, 2001