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Dozens rescued in quake-hit Hatay as crews race against time

Published

1 year ago

February 7, 2023

While the death toll from two devastating earthquakes that struck Türkiye’s southeastern provinces continued to rise on Tuesday, search and rescue teams worked around the clock to pull survivors out of the rubble in the Hatay province where 10-story buildings crumbled into the streets.

Among the survivors was a 16-year-old girl who was rescued after being trapped under the debris of a five-story building for nearly 22 hours. When firefighting crews brought the girl to the surface, Şevval Deniz hugged her rescues in tears before she was hospitalized.

Five other survivors were found nearly 30 hours after the 7.7 magnitude quake in the downtown Antakya district, including 65-year-old Hatice Özkan who was immediately taken to a hospital.

Around the same time on Tuesday, rescue teams managed to dig out four other people in two separate wreckages on Atatürk Boulevard and another woman who was wounded under the debris.

Ferit Güzeloğlu, a 55-year-old man who was stuck underneath a seven-story building on Uğur Mumcu Boulevard was saved safe and sound.

A family of three was saved 20 hours after the tremors stopped from the debris of a nine-story building.

Nine hours later, a 30-year-old mother and her 6-month-old baby were found alive in the Odabaşı neighborhood.

Another chilling rescue took place in the city on Monday night when Tekirdağ firefighter crews reached a 4-year-old child, Mune Rezzak, in mounds of rubble.

Crews rescued from another wreckage a child and his big sister, Ayaz and Ece Su, who could be heard saying, “I’m scared, I can’t get out,” as she was pulled out.

Meanwhile, the Defense Ministry’s Natural Disaster Search and Rescue Unit came to the rescue of a young girl named Buse while another 13-year-old girl named Göknur Bayraktar was saved after long hours of effort.

Some 33 hours into the aftermath, rescuers saved a 14-month-old infant from the rubble. Little Arya will be reunited with her twin Azra, local sources said.

According to Vice President Fuat Oktay, an additional 1,600 search and rescue crews have been deployed to Hatay on Tuesday to join the 1,673 crews already working on the ground. Due to its proximity to the epicenter of the earthquake, Hatay has been granted priority in rescue efforts alongside Adıyaman and Kahramanmaraş provinces, the vice president said.