earthquake disaster
Five-month-old baby rescued from rubble after five days
Thousands of victims are still believed to be under the rubble. photo
© Boris Roessler/dpa
While the hope of survivors dwindles with each passing day, there are always brief rays of hope in the rescue work: After 134 hours, a baby was freed from the rubble in Turkey.
More than five days after the devastating earthquake in the Turkish-Syrian border area, survivors have been rescued from the rubble. In Antakya, a five-month-old baby was retrieved alive from the rubble after 134 hours, reported the Turkish state television station TRT. TV pictures showed how a helper was lowered headlong into a meter-deep hole to get to the baby. The visibly exhausted child was handed over to paramedics after being freed.
A six-year-old boy was also rescued in Antakya after being buried under rubble for 137 hours, according to the state-run Anadolu Agency. He was taken to a hospital. According to Anadolu, rescue workers in Iskenderun recovered a 44-year-old man from the rubble after 138 hours.
1.5 million people live in emergency shelters
The number of dead is now officially more than 25,000 people. In Turkey alone, the death toll rose to 22,327 as of Saturday. More than 80,278 people were injured, Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said, according to the state news agency Anadolu. 3,574 deaths were recently reported from Syria.
In addition, many people lost their homes: according to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, more than 1.5 million people have now sought shelter in tents, hotels or public emergency shelters.
A 7.7 magnitude tremor shook the border area early Monday morning, followed by another 7.6 magnitude tremor at noon. Since then, there have been more than 2,000 aftershocks in the region by Saturday, according to the Turkish civil protection agency Afad.