It is not a miracle like the others. Aleks, a big, light-eyed mongrel, is a dog that emerged from the ruins of Antakya 23 days after the earthquake that devastated this large city in southern Turkey. The animal was held prisoner in the concrete slabs that formed like a well as it collapsed under the effect of the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that occurred shortly after 4 a.m. on February 6, according to images of the rescue broadcast by the Turkish news agency DHA.
It was the owner of the dog, Murat Arici, who heard his complaint and warned a rescue team dispatched by the municipality of Konya (center). “Aleks, come my dog,” rescuers say in the video. “Well… well done son,” they blurt out before they can grab the big dog, shaggy but apparently healthy. Aleks was entrusted to the good care of an association for the protection of animals (Haytap) to be examined before being returned to his master.
Many animals saved
Rescuers have rescued hundreds of cats, dogs, birds, rabbits and even cows and sheep trapped in ruined buildings in southern Turkey. The last survivors, a couple, were discovered in Antakya on February 18. Since then, searches have been officially suspended in nine of the 11 affected provinces, with the exception of Hatay and Kahramanmaras, where the epicenter was located.
The earthquake, considered the worst disaster ever suffered in contemporary Turkey, killed more than 45,000 people and more than 5,000 others in neighboring Syria, and devastated hundreds of thousands of buildings.