Italian Civil Defense teams share their experience of helping victims in quake-hit Türkiye

By Baris Seckin

ROME (AA) - Italian search and rescue teams who engaged in relief operations in earthquake-hit Türkiye shared their memorable experiences Monday.

Members of the Civil Protection Department posted a video of their time in the country on Twitter.

A staff member who joined the search and rescue teams said "there was nothing" when they arrived in Hatay, then they established a tent city in the park of Hatay Stadium.

"It developed gradually. Meanwhile, Hatay Stadium became a logistics center," the staff said.

Another staff member said in the video that the look and enthusiasm in the eyes of a child they rescued from the rubble on the second day of their visit to the region will never be forgotten.

An official who worked as a nurse in the search and rescue team said they witnessed sad moments and said that while they were happy to save a father from under the rubble, their joy was incomplete when they realized that his daughter had died.

A staff member from the Italian fire brigade said they exchanged Turkish and Italian flags with their guide named Kemal, adding Kemal helped them a lot during the operation in the region both in language translations and in overcoming cultural differences.

One officer said a young man they rescued after about 10 hours of work told them that he wanted to take a selfie with them following the rescue.

Another staff member said they returned to their country with many moving experiences and learned a lot about humanity.

At the end of the video, footage of the Italian teams being applauded at the airport on their way back from Türkiye was featured.

The head of Italy’s civil protection agency, Fabrizio Curcio, thanked the teams for their efforts.

More than 46,100 people have been killed in the two quakes that shook Türkiye on Feb. 6, according to officials.

The strong tremors, which were centered in Kahramanmaras province, have affected around 13.5 million people across 10 other provinces: Hatay, Gaziantep, Adiyaman, Malatya, Adana, Diyarbakir, Kilis, Osmaniye, Sanliurfa and Elazig.

In neighboring Syria, over 5,900 people have been killed in the earthquakes.​​​​​​​