Baby pulled out alive from earthquake rubble after a week

Gaziantep: A baby has been rescued in Turkey after surviving for nearly a week under the rubble of an earthquake-hit home.

The seven-month-old boy, called Hamza, was pulled from the wreckage on Sunday (Turkish time) by a search team in the southern province of Hatay.

Around the same time, a video was being shared on social media of a 13-year-old girl, Cudi, who was pulled to safety through a hole in the floor of her Hatay home after being trapped for 147 hours.

Rescue efforts had initially been complicated in the region owing to poor road conditions and damage to the main airport’s runway.

In central Hatay, rescuers were filmed talking to a five-year-old girl trapped beneath a destroyed building with her father.

“Hello beautiful girl, we are here to take you out,” one of the rescuers can be heard saying.

Meanwhile, a Romanian rescue team carried Mustafa Sargul, 35, out of a flattened six-storey building after 149 hours. He told rescuers: “Get me out of here quickly – I’ve got claustrophobia.”

A rescue worker rests near a collapsed building in Hatay, Turkey.Credit: Getty Image

Almost a week on from the 7.8 magnitude that hit Turkey and Syria, the chance of survival grows slimmer by the minute. The toll in both countries rose above 33,000 and looked set to keep growing. It was the deadliest quake in Turkey since 1939.

People’s desperation and their anger at the government is also growing with clashes reported in Adiyaman on Saturday night that caused an 80-member search and rescue team to suspend operations.

However, rescuers are still finding survivors in Adiyaman as a boy of six was pulled from the debris of his home. The child was wrapped in a space blanket and put into an ambulance.

Elsewhere, Fahrettin Koca, Turkey’s health minister, posted a video of a young girl being rescued.

“Good news at the 150th hour. Rescued a little while ago. There is always hope!” he tweeted.

Others in Adiyaman were left waiting in vain for help to arrive. Elif Busra Ozturk camped outside a collapsed building where she knew her aunt and uncle were trapped.

“For three days, I waited outside for help. No one came. There were so few rescue teams that they could only intervene in places they were sure there were people alive,” she said.

As the search and rescue timer passed 152 hours, an 85-year-old woman was pulled out of the rubble alive in Hatay.

Experts have said the survival rate of people trapped under rubble is 74 per cent within 24 hours, dropping to 22 per cent after 72 hours and just 6 per cent by the fifth day.

People could live for a week or more depending on their injuries and the weather conditions.

Meanwhile, families are racing to find the bodies of their missing relatives after authorities said they will no longer be able to keep them for an extended period of time before burial.

The Telegraph, London

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