Teams from France, US, Germany working in Türkiye for miracle rescue on day 8 since earthquakes

By Beyza Binnur Donmez

HATAY, Türkiye (AA) - It has been 178 hours since Türkiye was hit by two powerful earthquakes and in Hatay, one of the hardest hit provinces in the country's southern region, rescue teams from France, the US, and Germany are now working to herald the rescue of three people trapped in the debris.

According to the teams, there are three people alive in the wreckage of a collapsed building in the Cebrail district, where rescue operations have been taking place for nearly 30 hours.

French Colonel Jean-Philippe Nicot, leader of the French rescue team, told Anadolu in front of the building where the ongoing rescue operation takes place that they are one of the two French rescue teams joining emergency response in Türkiye.

Nicot said his team, a group of 73 rescuers, has been in Hatay for seven days to save lives in the wake of the devastating earthquakes which struck Türkiye last Monday.

The French team has been working in the quake rubble for more than 12 hours after they discovered possible signs of life items.

"It's absolutely sad. When we arrived, we all felt sad for the Turkish people and we had the feeling to do our best, save the many lives as possible," Nicot said about the situation in Hatay.

"We can see this disaster on the ground, everybody in the street, it is also a terrible view but we are trained to overcome this feeling and do all our best to save people," he added.

All the international teams, he said, are in coordination with Türkiye's Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD) and taking information from the agency on the ground about possible signs of people alive.

When asked how long the French team will continue its work in the earthquake zone, Nicot said: "We don't know exactly, when there is still hope, we will stay here."

- 'No help would be enough'

"Even if the entire world respond to (the earthquake in) Türkiye, there would not be enough help at this moment," said Brock Mayer from the American volunteer rescue team of 11-12 people and three trained K9 dogs.

Mayer said his team mobilized as soon as the back-to-back quakes hit on Monday and they arrived in Hatay on Wednesday.

"This particular building that is behind me is a building that we have found three people in. They are very deep underground and we discovered them through dogs first, actually, the local people here pointed us to this building and we ran our dogs and they also confirmed that there could be people there."

"And we met some friends from the Turkish military and the Turkish military brought their thermal imaging cameras and took images and they said, 'Yes, there is some possibility'," he said, adding that now a French team and a volunteer rescuer from Germany are also assisting them to save people trapped under concrete blocks.

"So lots of different people are working together," he added.

Mayer expressed how he is fascinated by the fact that Turkish people are "very giving" even "in their time of loss and grief."

"It's not easy but what is amazing is that we see that Turkish people are very loving people and they are very giving, and unselfish even in their time of loss and grief. So we are here to help where we can," he said.

- 'Worst disaster in Europe'

Malik, a German soldier who is a rescue volunteer in Hatay, said he has been working with both French and US teams since Wednesday when he arrived at the disaster zone.

Asked what made him decide to come to Hatay as a volunteer, he said: "I've just had to help. I got the profession, I know how to do it."

Describing the disaster as the "worst in Europe," Malik, who shared his first name only, said he is eager to get out people alive from the collapsed building which they are working on.

The work in the building, he said, is "very difficult."