A couple dug their four children out of their collapsed home using garden hoes after a massive earthquake hit Ludian county in Zhaotong city, Yunnan province, on Sunday afternoon, Yunnan Website reported on Monday.

Luo Faming and his wife were picking red peppers in their yard while their four children watched TV inside when the quake occurred at 4:30 pm on Sunday, the report said.

“Our house made of soil shook strongly at that time and later collapsed,” Luo told the website, adding all four children were buried under the rubble.

“I was shocked and asked my wife to help dig our children out quickly with hoes,” the website quoted the father as saying. “I dug my eldest son out first and he looked good, which comforted me to some extent.”

Neighbors of the couple came to help and the other three children were also rescued, the report said.

Three of the children were injured in the house collapse, one of whom suffered serious injuries and is in a coma, the report said.

The couple transported their four children to a hospital, but it took them almost two hours to travel 10 kilometers of damaged road, the report said, adding that the worst injured child has been taken to Zhaotong for further treatment.

“My wife accompanied our seriously injured child to Zhaotong city, but I cannot contact them, as my cellphone was lost in the quake,” Luo told the website.