Rescue stories offer ray of hope amid twin quake disaster in Türkiye

By Emre Basaran

ISTANBUL (AA) - Rescue stories have provided a ray of hope to those affected by Monday’s devastating earthquakes in southern Türkiye which killed at least 12,391 people and injured 62,914 others.

In southern Kahramanmaras province – the epicenter of the twin quakes -- search and rescue crews pulled 60-year-old Ramazan Ayranpinar from the rubble of an eight-story building around 63 hours after the disaster struck.

Meanwhile, a 59-year-old woman who was stranded in the rubble of a six-story building in the province’s Dulkadiroglu district was rescued 58 hours later.

More good news from the province came after search and rescue teams heard a noise from the debris of a five-story building on Trabzon Street.

A young woman was removed from the wreckage after being trapped there for 61 hours and was transferred to a nearby hospital after receiving first aid.

Good news also came from another province that was hit hard by the earthquakes.

Search and rescue crews in central Antakya district in Hatay province saved a girl from a family whose other members had already been rescued. Crews managed to remove 8-year-old Beyan Haddap from the rubble, where she was found 61 hours after the earthquakes. The injured girl was immediately taken to a hospital like her family members Mulhem Al Haddap and Mahir Al Haddap.

The magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 earthquakes, centered in Kahramanmaras province, also struck nine other provinces and affected more than 13 million people. Several countries in the region, including Syria and Lebanon, felt the strong quakes that jolted Türkiye in the space of fewer than 10 hours.