Three survivors, including a 14-year-old teenager, were pulled from the rubble in Antakya, southern Turkey, more than 260 hours after the earthquakes that devastated the region, Turkish authorities and the press reported today.
Mustafa, 33, and Mehmet, 26, were saved “261 hours” after the earthquakes, Turkey’s Health Minister Fahrettin Koca announced on Twitter.
Hayat dolu haberler bu gece birbirini izliyor. Kardeşimiz Mehmet Ali, Hatay”da enkaz altından 261″inci saatte kurtarılan ikinci vatandaşımız. İlk tıbbi müdahalesi Sahra Hastanesinde yapıldı. Şu an Mustafa Kemal Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi Hastanesinde tedavi altında. pic.twitter.com/3WNgR8KkKW
– Dr Fahrettin Koca (@drfahrettinkoca) February 17, 2023
In a video released by the minister, Mustafa calls a relative moments after being rescued, and excitement and surprise can be heard on the other end of the line.
Hatay”da enkaz altından 261″inci saatte, bu gece kurtarılan Mustafa, tıbbi müdahalenin ardından ilk olarak, telefon umarasını hatırladığı bir yakınını aradı. Kardeşimiz Mustafa”yı bu kadar iyi görmekten çok mutluyuz. pic.twitter.com/t0jrmH0M6r
– Dr Fahrettin Koca (@drfahrettinkoca) February 16, 2023
The CNN Türk television channel featured the survivors as Mustafa Avci and Mehmet Ali Sakiroglu.
Meanwhile, some “260 hours” after the quakes, a 14-year-old teenager was also rescued from the rubble of his building in central Antakya, “after intensive efforts” by rescue teams, the minister said. Turkish.
Fahrettin Koca said that the teenager, named Osman, had to be operated on in a hospital in the province, without specifying the severity, but the boy appears conscious in the photo published on social networks.
14 yaşındaki Osman 260″ıncı saatte, yoğun çabaların sonucunda tekrar aramızda. Şu an Hatay Mustafa Kemal Üniversitesi Hastanesinde ilk tıbbi müdahalesi gerçekleştiriliyor. pic.twitter.com/4S5aXp6lMc
– Dr Fahrettin Koca (@drfahrettinkoca) February 16, 2023
According to the DHA news agency, the two men, Mehmet and Mustafa, were among the rubble of the same building in the center of Antakya when they were discovered by rescue teams. The Turkish minister indicated that both were immediately transferred to the hospital.
The last survivors discovered by rescue teams, when the search gradually ceased, were found in Hatay province, on the outskirts of Antakya, near the border with Syria.
The chances of survival now seem lower, more to the north of the country, around the epicenter of the earthquake, in the mountainous regions such as Kahramanmaras, and in the regions of Elbistan and Adiyaman, due to the snow and low temperatures, which for the negative 15 °C overnight.
According to the most recent data, the two earthquakes -of magnitudes 7.8 and 7.5 on the Richter scale- caused 36,187 deaths and 108,000 injuries in Turkey. In Syria, around 5,000 people were killed.
The region affected by the two earthquakes, which occurred on February 6 and which had their epicenter in Turkey, extends over 100,000 square kilometers, where 14 million people live.
Source: TSF
