Nurses protect newborn babies during earthquake in China

Nurses at a hospital in China have showed little regard for themselves after whisking newborn infants from their cribs to safety during an earthquake.

Three newborn babies were in the neonatal ward of a hospital in Yuxi City in the nation’s south west Yunnan Province early on Monday morning when the magnitude 5.0 quake hit.

As the walls and floors around them started to shudder, hospital CCTV cameras filmed medical staff rush towards the cribs and quickly, yet carefully, lift the babies into their arms, China Global TV Network reports.

To make sure each child was always properly protected, the babies were carried out one at a time wrapped in spare blankets.

The three nurses could be seen sitting with the infants on steps outside the hospital. They kept cradling the babies in their arms until their parents arrived.

Five people were injured in the earthquake, according to local media.

China Earthquake Networks Centre reported the epicentre had a depth of 7km.