A baby girl less than one year old was safely rescued this morning after spending six hours under the rubble caused by the earthquake that struck Japan last night.

Rescue workers successfully pulled an 8-month-old baby girl from the rubble of a collapsed house in the town of Mashiki, southeastern Japan, according to NBC News.

The child was lying on the first floor when the 6.5-magnitude earthquake shook the area near Kumamoto city on Kyushu island yesterday. His mother, grandparents and 4-year-old brother were in the kitchen and living room.

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Nippon TV reported that horizontal beams on the roof fell when the house collapsed, creating a space that helped protect the baby.

When the quake subsided, the mother saw the baby through the cracks but could not reach it. A team of about 50 people was on the scene and began digging carefully.

The baby was finally rescued at around 3:45 a.m. local time without any serious injuries on his body, six hours after his family notified rescuers.

The earthquake in Japan has so far claimed the lives of nine people and injured more than 800. According to the Japan Times, this is the strongest earthquake since the disaster in 2011. In March 2011, a magnitude 9.0 earthquake off the coast of northern Tokyo caused a tsunami, killing nearly 20,000 people and leaking radiation from the Fukushima nuclear power plant.

According to VNE