Elderly woman rescued alive 1 week after deadly quakes in Türkiye

By Hassan Isilow

JOHANNESBURG (AA) - An elderly woman said to be 80 years old was found alive Monday, a week after two earthquakes struck parts of Türkiye, a South African humanitarian organization said.

‘‘Today, Gift of the Givers together with an Omani team managed to locate alive an elderly person in the rubble in Hatay,” Dr. Imtiaz Sooliman, the head of the organization, told Anadolu late Monday.

Sooliman said sniffer dogs from the K9 unit of the South African Police Service helped them locate and rescue the trapped elderly woman.

“Congratulations to the team for pulling out someone alive several days after the earthquake,’’ said Sooliman, whose organization sent a team of 44 rescue workers and trauma doctors to Türkiye.

Sooliman said his organization had a similar experience during a devastating earthquake in Haiti, where they managed to pull out a 64-year-old alive at a collapsed Catholic church eight days after the earthquake.

“When we work together for the purpose of humanity, there is always success. Thanks to all the teams involved for making this miracle happen. We are hopeful that some more live persons will be in the same building in Hatay,” he said.

At least 31,643 people were killed by the back-to-back earthquakes that jolted southern Türkiye on Feb. 6, according to the latest official figures.

The magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 earthquakes, centered in Kahramanmaras province, affected more than 13 million people across a total of 10 provinces, including Hatay, Gaziantep, Adiyaman, Malatya, Adana, Diyarbakir, Kilis, Osmaniye and Sanliurfa.

In neighboring Syria, the death toll has climbed above 3,500, with more than 5,200 people injured.