KAHRAMANMARAS, Türkiye: A teenage girl was pulled alive from the rubble in Türkiye on Thursday (Feb 16), more than 10 days after an earthquake that has killed more than 42,000 people in the country and neighbouring Syria, as families of those still missing await news of their fate.
The 17-year-old was rescued in Türkiye’s southeastern Kahramanmaras province, broadcaster TRT Haber reported, 248 hours since the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that struck in the dead of night on Feb 6.
Footage showed her being carried on a stretcher to an ambulance covered with a gold coloured thermal blanket.
The number of people killed by the deadliest earthquake in Türkiye’s modern history has risen to 36,187, authorities said. In Syria, where the earthquake has compounded a humanitarian crisis caused by 12 years of war, the reported death is toll 5,800 – a figure that has changed little in days.
While several people were also found alive in Türkiye on Wednesday, reports of such rescues have become increasingly frequent. Authorities in Türkiye and Syria have not announced how many people are still missing.
Millions of people are in need of humanitarian aid after being left homeless in near-freezing winter temperatures.
In the Turkish city of Kahramanmaras, a photo of two missing boys had been tied to a tree close to the block of flats where they lived.
“Their parents are deceased,” said earthquake survivor Bayram Nacar, who stood waiting with other local men wearing masks as an excavator cleared a huge pile of shattered concrete and twisted metal rods behind the tree.
He said the bodies of the boys’ parents were still under the rubble. “The father was called Atilla Sariyildiz. His body is yet to be found. We are hoping to find the parents after the excavators remove the debris.”
More than 4,300 aftershocks had hit the disaster zone since the initial, Türkiye’s Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) said.
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