Turkey earthquake: 3-year-old rescued 65 hours after 7.0-magnitude earthquake hit Turkey and Greece
Bayrakli:
Rescuers pulled two children out of the rubble of a city in western Turkey on Monday, nearly three days after a powerful earthquake struck the Aegean Sea, killing 85 people.
Elif Perincek, 3, was rescued 65 hours after the 7.0 magnitude earthquake that hit Turkey and Greece on Friday, AFAD announced, the Turkish emergency authorities.
Local media showed a video of a little girl wrapped in an aluminum blanket quickly brought to safety in the coastal town of Bayrakli – hardest hit by the disaster – as rescuers cheered.
“I am so happy, God bless you. I am reunited with Elif,” her grandmother said, quoted by public broadcaster TRT. “My prayers have been answered.”
Elif was the 106th person to be lifted alive from the collapsed buildings of Bayrakli, which included his mother and three siblings the day before.
But her rescued brother later died, TRT reported.
AFAD also reported the rescue of Idil Sirin, 14, in Bayrakli, 58 hours after the earthquake, destroying buildings in Turkey and Greece.
But the family’s joy was brief when the lifeless body of Idil’s sister Ipek was found, the Hurriyet newspaper reported.
“I can’t hear any sound from my sister, she’s dead,” Idil told rescuers as she was pulled out, Hurriyet said.
Turkey’s tally after the earthquake continues to rise, with Environment Minister Murat Kurum reporting 83 dead.
Nearly 1,000 people have been injured, more than 200 of whom are still hospitalized.
Two teenagers were also killed on their way home from school on the Greek island of Samos, near the quake’s epicenter.
Racing against time, search and rescue officers are still on a desperate quest to try to find people alive in the rubble in Bayrakli, an AFP correspondent said at the scene.
Thousands of residents, including those whose homes collapsed, spent a third night out in tents in Bayrakli and near Bornova, as many feared the risk of aftershocks.
AFAD said there were 1,148 aftershocks, 43 of which were greater than magnitude four.
(Except for the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is posted from a syndicated feed.)
