Rescuers find more alive in Turkiye on 8th day

Antakya, The Gulf Observer: Rescuers on Tuesday were working to reach people under the rubble in three provinces hit hard by the devastating quakes that hit Turkiye and Syria last week.

The death toll from the magnitude 7.8 and 7.5 quakes that struck nine hours apart on Feb. 6 in southeastern Turkiye and northern Syria passed 35,000, and was certain to increase as search teams find more bodies.

Turkish television continued broadcasting rescues Tuesday, as experts said the window to find survivors is closing.

In Adiyaman province, rescuers reached 18-year-old Muhammed Cafer Cetin, and medics gave him an IV with fluids before attempting a dangerous extraction from a building that crumbled further as rescuers were working. Medics surrounded him to place a neck brace and he was on a stretcher with an oxygen mask, making it out to daylight on the 199th hour. “We are so happy,” his uncle said.

Two others were rescued from one building that’s been destroyed in central Kahramanmaras, near the epicenter, Tuesday some 198 hours after the quake. Broadcaster Haberturk said one was 17-year-old Muhammed Enes, who was seen wrapped in a thermal blanket and carried on a stretcher to an ambulance. Dozens of rescuers were working at the site and Turkish soldiers hugged and clapped after their rescue.

Rescuers then asked for quiet to continue looking for others and shouted “can anyone hear me?”

The health conditions of the rescued were unclear.

In extremely hard-hit Hatay, Sengul Abalioglu lost her old sister and four nephews. “It doesn’t matter if dead or alive, we just want our corpses so that they at least have a grave and we bury them,” she told media, devastated as she waited in front of the rubble where her family could be.