The death toll continues to rise after two massive earthquakes hit Türkiye's south on Monday, but miracle rescues give a glimmer of hope amid the gloom and dejection triggered by one of the deadliest events in the country's history.
In southern Kahramanmaraş province, the epicenter of the twin quakes, search and rescue teams pulled 60-year-old Ramazan Ayranpınar from the rubble of an eight-story building around 63 hours after the disaster struck. Meanwhile, a 59-year-old woman who was stranded in the rubble of a six-story building in the province’s Dulkadiroğlu district was rescued 58 hours later.
More good news from the province came after search and rescue teams heard a noise from the debris of a five-story building on Trabzon Street. A young woman was evacuated from the wreckage after being trapped there for 61 hours and transferred to a nearby hospital after receiving first aid.
Positive news also poured in from another province that was hit hard by the earthquakes. Search and rescue crews in central Antakya district in Hatay province saved a girl from a family whose other members had already been rescued. Crews evacuated 8-year-old Beyan Haddap from the rubble after 61 hours. The injured girl was immediately taken to a hospital like her family members Mulhem al-Haddap and Mahir al-Haddap.
An Israeli rescue team pulled a woman alive from the rubble of a collapsed building in Kahramanmaraş on Wednesday. Özlem Bolat, 26, was rescued from the rubble of a building in the Onikişubat district and was transferred to a hospital for medical treatment.
A Hungarian rescue team pulled an 18-month-old baby alive from the rubble of a collapsed building in the province of Hatay. "Together with local institutions and volunteers, Hungarian search and rescue teams have so far rescued 24 people," Hungarian Ambassador to Ankara Viktor Mattis said on Twitter.
In Kahramanmaraş' Elbistan district, one of the worst-hit places, a family of three, including 50-year-old Ibrahim Ali and his two sons were rescued after 72 hours, from the first floor of a four-story building after an eight-hour intense rescue operation. In Pazarcık, five-year-old Mir Berzan Bağış was found alive 73 hours after the earthquake, along with her parents. The family was taken to a hospital for treatment, while the little girl's first request was to drink water as she was rescued from the rubble.
In Adıyaman, 36-year-old Yılmaz Çetin emerged alive from the debris of a building 77 hours after tremors razed it to the ground, amid the applause from rescue crews, while his brother, who survived the tremors, rushed to kiss him as he was taken to a hospital.
A faint moan from the rubble of a 12-story apartment building in Adana's Çukurova district, heard by search and rescue crews, led to the discovery of a 48-year-old woman trapped under the debris. In about 30 minutes, the crew located her and pulled her to safety some 75 hours after the earthquake.
