Even as United Nations aid chief Martin Griffiths signals that the rescue phase is “coming to a close” one week after magnitudes 7.8 and 7.6 earthquakes struck southern Turkey, rescue workers are still pulling people out alive from under the rubble of collapsed buildings.
Here are videos of the most recent miraculous moments recorded on camera.
178 hours underground
A four-year-old girl named Miray has been saved after 178 hours under debris in the Turkish province of Adiyaman. Clapping and cheers of “Allahu Akbar” or “God is the greatest” broke out, before rescuers asked for silence upon seeing the girl groaning in distress. It is believed most people can live without water only for three to four days, or 72 to 96 hours.
At the 175th hour
A woman called Naide Umar was rescued after 175 hours of being trapped under a flattened building in Hatay province in southern Turkey. She is one of the latest people known to have been rescued. According to Ihlas news agency, medical teams administered first aid on site before an ambulance rushed her to hospital.
Deliverance for a daughter and her dad
Before dawn on Monday, rescuers dug out a man and his daughter from under the rubble in Turkey’s Hatay province.
Son’s prayers answered
“Mum, we’re here!”
A 64-year-old mother was rescued in Hatay on Saturday afternoon, after 150 hours under rubble. Her son, who had been anxiously waiting for her to come out, helped carry her stretcher to the waiting ambulance.
Small girl pulled from under the mountain of debris
Footage released by the Turkish health ministry on Sunday showed rescue workers carrying a little girl on a stretcher. She was conscious and responsive, but appeared in a state of shock. She had been buried under a collapsed building for about 150 hours.
Weekend of urgent rescues
Several survivors were still being pulled out alive in various Turkish provinces on Saturday, the sixth day since the quakes. They included a two-month-old baby, a six-year-old boy named Beren, a five-year-old girl, and five members of one family in the Nurdagi district of Gaziantep in Turkey.
Sustained by faith
Osman Firat, 47, was trapped under debris in Kahramanmaras for 104 hours. As rescuers worked to free him, he recited the last two verses of the Quran’s longest chapter, Surah al-Baqarah.
