GAZIANTEP/KAHRAMANMARAS, Türkiye
Over 100 hours since earthquakes shook southern Türkiye earlier this week, rescue efforts still continue as more survivors are pulled out from the debris.
Turkish teams on Friday rescued 66-year-old Murat Vural in the province of Gaziantep, Islahiye district, 103 hours after the first of two powerful earthquakes. Vural was carried out of the debris after 10 hours of work by members of the National Medical Rescue Team (UMKE) and police.
This came two hours after a similar rescue story in Hatay province, where a miner crew from Zonguldak province saved a mother, Ihlas Ayaz, and her son Yigit.
UMKE and police teams in the Elbistan district of Kahramanmaras province saved the life of Mustafa Sahin Sami 102 hours after the first quake. The teams worked 12 hours to rescue the 33-year-old man from the rubble of a seven-story building.
Also in Kahramanmaras, a 15-year-old girl was rescued by Azerbaijani teams. The Syrian-origin Ayse Mustafa was saved after 103 hours.
Three-and-half-year-old Zeynep Ela Parlak was also pulled out of the rubble in Hatay, also 103 hours since the initial tremor.
The magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 earthquakes, centered in the Kahramanmaras province, affected more than 13 million people across 10 provinces, also including Adana, Adiyaman, Diyarbakir, Gaziantep, Hatay, Kilis, Malatya, Osmaniye, and Sanliurfa.
Several countries in the region, including Syria and Lebanon, felt the strong tremors that struck Türkiye in the space of fewer than 10 hours.
