More rescues in Turkey almost a week after the earthquake. 150 hours after children pulled from under rubble
Almost a week after devastating earthquakes hit Turkey and neighbouring Syria, rescuers are still pulling people out of the rubble alive. But the chances of finding more survivors are dramatically diminishing as the death toll from the earthquakes has passed 33,000, reports HotNews.ro.
In the midst of the disaster, there are still cases of miraculous rescues. Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca posted a short video on Twitter on Sunday of a little girl he said was pulled from under the rubble "in the 150th hour" in the southern Turkish province of Hatay.
A seven-month-old baby was also rescued from under rubble in southeastern Turkey, TRT reported on Sunday morning, as reported by DPA and Agerpres.
The rescuers managed to pull the baby boy out alive from a collapsed building in Hatay province after 140 hours. What they realised was that there was a child still alive under the rubble was when they heard him crying. A 35-year-old man was rescued in the same province after being trapped under rubble for about 149 hours, according to TRT.
A provisional death toll from the earthquakes that struck Turkey and Syria on Monday has reached 33,179, the United Nations (UN) announced on Sunday, saying more than 50,000 people are estimated to have lost their lives in the quakes, with the strongest measuring 7.8.
Turkey's latest official provisional death toll stands at 29,605 and Syria's at 3,575, reports Agerpres. Rescue operations still continue, but the chances of finding people alive under the rubble are increasingly slim.
Martin Griffiths, the UN's humanitarian chief, admitted that the organisation has failed to help people in north-western Syria, which has been controlled by the opposition at war with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's army since 2011.
So far, 62 planes loaded with humanitarian aid have landed in Syria, mainly from Saudi Arabia, says the Syrian Transport Ministry.
