Teenager rescued from rubble in Turkey 10 days after earthquake


Nada AlTaher
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Follow the latest on the earthquake in Turkey and Syria

A 17-year-old girl was rescued from under the rubble of a building that collapsed in Turkey's southern central province of Kahramanmaras on Thursday, 248 hours — 10 days — after an earthquake and its aftershocks struck Turkey and Syria on February 6.

More than 40,000 people have been reported dead since the quake hit.

The rescue comes a day after a video posted on Twitter by Istanbul's Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu showed a 13-year-old boy, Mustafa, had been pulled out alive in the southern city of Antakya, after 228 hours.

“Hope is not lost,” Mr Imamoglu said.

“Our brother Mustafa was rescued alive from the wreckage in Antakya after 228 hours. While the construction machine was working, it was brought back to life with the attention of our rescue teams.”

Turkey's state news agency Anadolu has been tracking some of the survivors pulled out after the fifth day of the earthquake. Many are children.

Relief assistance has poured in from more than 80 countries, including the UAE, Anadolu reported.

On Thursday, Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg described the earthquake as the “deadliest natural disaster on alliance territory since Nato was founded”.

“We salute the courage of the Turkish first responders and we mourn with you,” he said.

He was speaking at a joint press conference with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, who called for more support from fellow Nato members.

Also on Thursday, Turkey's disaster management agency Afad said 108,000 people were injured in the 7.8-magnitude and 7.5-magnitude quakes that struck nine hours apart.

Earthquake rescue workers from around the world — in pictures

  • Deepak Talwar from the Indian search and rescue team. All photos: Getty Images
    Deepak Talwar from the Indian search and rescue team. All photos: Getty Images
  • Deeba Shahnaz from the Pakistani search and rescue team
    Deeba Shahnaz from the Pakistani search and rescue team
  • Muhammed Yakup Yusuf from the Malaysian team
    Muhammed Yakup Yusuf from the Malaysian team
  • Aditya Pratap Singh from the Indian team
    Aditya Pratap Singh from the Indian team
  • Muhammed Ahsan from the Pakistani team
    Muhammed Ahsan from the Pakistani team
  • Muhammed Azrif Rabe from the Malaysian team
    Muhammed Azrif Rabe from the Malaysian team
Updated: February 16, 2023, 1:57 PM