Audio By Carbonatix
A rescue crew in earthquake-ravaged Turkey has pulled a 14-day-old baby girl from the shattered ruins of a building in the city of Ercis - miraculously still alive after 47 hours trapped.
Little Azra - her name meaning 'Help' in Hebrew - was found naked in the rubble, making her survival all the more remarkable because of the freezing temperatures in the region.
Taken from the arms of her mother, who also survived the quake but give the baby to rescuers until she too could be freed, Azra was rushed to a medical unit - emergency crew members cradling her fragile little body as they scrambled over the debris to get her to safety.
The rescue gives hope to hundreds of citizens in both Ercis and Van that their loved ones still missing after Sunday's 7.2-magnitude earthquake may still be alive.
Tens of thousands of people spent a second night under canvas, in cars or huddled round small fires in towns rattled by aftershocks from a massive earthquake in eastern Turkey that killed hundreds.
The death toll from Sunday's quake rose to 366 overnight, and hundreds more are still missing after the quake and more than 200 aftershocks.
Casualties were concentrated so far in the town of Ercis and the provincial capital Van, with officials still checking outlying areas. Seven people were rescued overnight.
As grieving families prepared to bury their dead today, others kept vigil by the mounds of concrete rubble and masonry, praying rescue teams would find missing loved ones alive.
Crowds of residents gathered around collapsed buildings in the city, falling into an eerie silence as each person strained to hear even the faintest signs of life under the crumbled concrete and twisted steel.
The Disaster and Emergency Administration said 1,301 people had been injured and 2,262 buildings had collapsed.
The Turkish Red Crescent distributed up to 13,000 tents, and was preparing to provide temporary shelter for about 40,000 people, although there were no reliable estimates of the number of people left destitute.
The trauma of the quake is one more problem to bear for Kurds, the dominant ethnic group in southeast Turkey, where more than 40,000 people have been killed in a three-decade-long separatist insurgency.
The centre of Van, usually a vibrant city with a large population, resembled a ghost town with no lights in the streets or buildings.
The sense of dislocation was greater in Ercis with no homes to return to.
Thousands of people, mostly men, paced the streets, stopping to look at the destruction or whenever there was some commotion at a rescue operation site.
At one collapsed building on the main road leading through Ercis, the area worst hit in Sunday's quake, exhausted rescue workers shouted at crowds of men pushing forward to catch a glimpse as efforts were made to free the corpse of a woman from the rubble.
DISCLAIMER: The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or policy of Multimedia Group Limited.
Tags:
DISCLAIMER: The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or policy of Multimedia Group Limited.
Latest Stories
-
“Ghana has moved from ICU to wellness center” — Finance Minister declares economic recovery
10 minutes -
Ato Forson highlights “turning point” in economic recovery strategy
14 minutes -
NACSA Seminar: Gender Minister demands an increased role for women to end gun violence
19 minutes -
Full text: Statement on Ghana’s new engagement with IMF
26 minutes -
US trade mission to visit Ghana
1 hour -
Tempane: Three suspects arrested over deadly Worinyanga attacksÂ
1 hour -
EU fines Temu €200m for allowing sale of illegal products
1 hour -
Portugal breaks hottest May day record as Europe swelters in heatwave
1 hour -
KetaFC celebrates “vindication” after Volta RFA Middle League controversy
1 hour -
Professor Joseph Ofori-Dankwa receives 2026 Lifetime Leadership Impact Award
1 hour -
United Pension Trustees advocates menstrual hygiene awareness and support for girls in Juaben
1 hour -
The age when the body starts ageing faster
1 hour -
Controversial Volta RFA verdict triggers calls for GFA intervention
1 hour -
AIMS Ghana, University of Waterloo lead push for stronger mathematics education at HTTMC 2026
1 hour -
NADMO dismisses claims residents were not warned before Weija Dam spillage
3 hours