This was the incredible moment a Welsh firefighter helped pull a woman from the Turkey earthquake rubble and reunited her with a child. Phil Irving, 46, from Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, was part of a rescue team which pulled two people alive from the rubble after they'd been trapped in a collapsed multi-storey building for 120 hours.
Phil is one of 77 search and rescue specialists from 14 fire and rescue services across the UK providing life-saving support in the catastrophe-hit country. Speaking after the dramatic rescue on Saturday, February 11 - during which his team managed to pull a woman and a police officer to safety in Hatay, southern Turkey - Phil said: "These people were entombed in rubble and debris and we had to work around the clock to bring them out alive.
"It was Friday afternoon when we first discovered signs of life. We knew 100 per cent that they were alive. We were hearing them tapping and shouting so we knew we were close to them but reaching them was a major challenge. It was a catastrophic collapse and access was difficult. They were trapped in there for over five days and it will stay with me their incredible capacity to keep going, hope and believe.”
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Dad-of-two Phil – usually a watch manager at Haverfordwest station – has been a firefighter for almost 24 years. He has been volunteering with the UK International Search and Rescue team for 17 years and was part of the Indonesia (2009) and Haiti (2010) earthquake responses. He spoke to WalesOnline earlier this week - alongside his colleague Steve Davies - which you can read here.
Phil said every rescue mission was "bittersweet" and this latest one was captured on camera. Phil continued: "I’ve got to be honest that I always find that it is a mixed emotion when we get someone out because if you rescue one person and they are reunited with a relative, generally speaking that person has left a loved one in the building, who has not been so lucky.
“So, it is generally a bitter-sweet moment. Of course, when we are successful in getting someone out, it gives the team a boost, but I don’t think you ever have a rescue that is not moderately tarnished with the bigger reality that the survivor will have to deal with grief for the people that didn’t make it. That’s how I feel about it."
He added: “I’m not sure whether it is age or whether it’s my experience over the years, but it hurts my heart to see the devastation we are seeing. It’s as simple as that. I stand back and I look at the people who have lost their homes and their families and my heart bleeds for them. Turkey didn’t deserve this. Human beings don’t deserve this.
“I was walking down the street the other day. There were helicopters above, constant sirens, shouting in the street, brazier fires burning, and it feels and looks like a war zone. In all honesty, the most difficult conversations we have are when the search dog doesn’t get a hit, there’s no audible noise or sign of life and then we have to move on. It is very difficult explaining the rationale to people frantically searching for their loved ones as to why we are moving on. You don’t want to extinguish all hope for people."
He said the Turkish people had shown the rescue teams "remarkable compassion". Phil said: “There was a lady sitting round a burning brazier next to a collapsed building. Potentially she had lost family, she had the clothes on her back and that was it. Yet she walked up to a female medic, touches her on the arm and offers her half of this six inch cake that was all she had.
“For people that have absolutely nothing, suffering significant grief and trauma, to still have the capacity to show kindness like that makes me believe in humanity.”
The death toll from Monday’s catastrophic earthquake has now surged past 28,000 and Phil admitted his wife Lianne, daughter Esmei, and eight-year-old son Evan were never far from his thoughts. He said: “They are proud of what I am doing. My wife and daughter are mature enough to recognise the importance of this work and manage that information.
“Unfortunately, my boy is like my shadow so me being away has hit him quite hard, if I’m honest. He is clever but he just thinks about risk and he gets a bit emotional about it."
The first 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck the region in southern Turkey and north-west Syria on Monday, killing tens of thousands of people. The Welsh Government has committed a six-figure sum to help the earthquake victims in both countries.
International Development Minister Andrew Mitchell said: “It is thanks to the generosity and compassion of the British people that the DEC Turkey-Syria Earthquake Appeal has reached the extraordinary total of £52.8 million, which includes £5 million of match funding from the British taxpayer.
“This would not have been possible without the kindness and support of the British people. Thank you.”
You can donate to the Disasters Emergency Committee online, by phoning 03706060610, texting HELPU to 70787 (this donates £10), over the counter at a bank or Post Office, or sending a cheque to DEC Turkey-Syria Earthquake Appeal, PO Box 999, London EC3A 3AA.
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