Editor’s note: Graphic content. The following article contains photos of civilian casualties and injured children.
Search and rescue team are seen as they afford to rescue 36-year-old Murat Babaoglan from under rubble 88 hours after 7.7 and 7.6 magnitude earthquakes hit multiple provinces of Turkiye including Osmaniye on February 09, 2023.
Ahmet Izgi | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images
Fears of a “secondary disaster” were momentarily eclipsed Friday by a flurry of dramatic rescues that saw survivors pulled from the rubble four days after earthquakes devastated Turkey and Syria, killing more than 23,300 people.
Emergency services, volunteers and families have toiled despite diminishing hope for those still trapped in subzero temperatures. Streets have grown heavy with bodies wrapped in blankets, while residents have huddled over fires as the destruction forced makeshift morgues for the dead and shelters for the living.
The government and aid groups have distributed millions of hot meals, as well as tents and blankets, but help was still struggling to reach many people in need — driving anger in southern Turkey and in northern Syria, where civil war has only compounded the difficulties.
But in Kahramanmaras, near the epicenter of Monday’s 7.8-magnitude quake, NBC News witnessed one of the many rescues that offered a glimmer of hope to the millions affected.
Dozens of rescuers clambered around a 57-year old woman, who was still conscious when she was pulled from the wreckage of a building.
Wrapped in a gold-colored emergency blanket, she was rushed to the hospital.
It was Murat Kucuktecer, one of the many rescuers at the site, who had first heard the woman’s voice. She survived days under the rubble because she was trapped in an air pocket that was insulated, Kucuktacer told NBC News.
“She was inside a 20-inch space where there was enough air, that’s how she survived,” he said. “It was a miracle, thank God.”
“This is the eighth person I’ve rescued alive. God willing, I…
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