Istanbul, Nov. 3, (dpa/GNA) – The emergency workers who rescued a 3-year-old girl from the rubble 65 hours after a deadly earthquake rocked Turkey’s western coast said on Monday it was nothing short of a “miracle.”
There was some cause for applause three days after a massive tremor centred in the Aegean Sea hit both Turkey and Greece.
Nonetheless, more bodies were also being recovered in the country’s third-largest city, Izmir, and the death toll climbed to 91, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said.
Broadcast footage showed Elif Perincek, 3, being lifted on a stretcher to a field hospital tent in Izmir as scores of emergency workers clapped and cheered. Many wept. Right through she held on to the thumb of one of the rescuers.
That was firefighter Muammer Celik from Istanbul, who told NTV channel that she grabbed his thumb and never let go.
Elif looked almost lifeless when rescuers first saw her. “Then we noticed a small movement and saw she was alive. It was truly a miracle for us,” paramedic Tolga Unsel told state news agency Anadolu.
Celik described her ashen, white face, but when they reached out to wipe off the dust she opened her eyes and then smiled. “I held out my hand. Elif clutched it. That’s how we got her out,” he said.
“I am now her big brother,” Celik said.
As the clock ticks down on the window to find survivors, emergency teams have been working tirelessly since Friday’s earthquake.
Elif’s mother and three siblings were rescued from a collapsed eight-storey building after 23 hours on Saturday. Her father also survived, but her 7-year-old brother died, according to the health minister.
Disaster management agency AFAD tweeted that Idil, 14, was also saved on Monday after being trapped for 58 hours.
Environment and Urbanization Minister Murat Kurum said 962 people were rescued, of whom 219 were still being treated in hospital.
More than 7,800 rescue workers are on the job, Kurum said, adding that 58 buildings were devastated, while more than 450 had suffered light to medium damage.
Izmir’s chief public prosecutor launched investigations into those responsible for the badly damaged and destroyed buildings, the collapse of which caused so many casualties, state news agency Anadolu reported.
At least nine people – including building contractors, engineers and those responsible for checking and authorizing the plans – were detained, while two more were sought by the authorities.
According to media reports, two teenagers were also killed on the Greek island of Samos.
AFAD put the quake’s magnitude at 6.6, while the US Geological Survey said it was 7.0. It triggered a small tsunami and hundreds of aftershocks have since been felt in the region.
Turkey lies on major fault lines and has suffered devastating earthquakes in the past, including one in the north-west in 1999 that killed more than 17,000 people.
AFAD, which announced the rescue of dog Ares on Monday, also tweeted: “We are here until we reach the last life.”
GNA