Turkey: 278 hours after the earthquake, a survivor was found

A 45-year-old man was pulled from a mountain of rubble on Friday, according to a video of the mayor, who dispatched rescue teams to the disaster areas.

By Le Figaro with AFP

Published 2/17/2023 at 6:41 PM, updated 2/17/2023 at 7:22 PM

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Members of a rescue and demolition team in Antakya, Turkey February 16, 2023. MAXIM SHEMETOV/ Portal

A man was discovered in the ruins on Friday February 17, 278 hours after the earthquake that devastated southern Turkey on February 6, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said on Twitter. The survivor, Hakan Yasinoglu, 45 years old according to private broadcaster NTV, was found on the twelfth day of the disaster in the ruins of Hatay province, near the Syrian border, which notably includes the completely devastated city of Antakya.

Obtained from a mountain of rubble

The survivor was pulled from a mountain of rubble, according to a video of (oppositional) Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, who dispatched city government rescue teams to the affected areas. The last three survivors discovered were also found in central Antakya: two men aged 33 and 26 were rescued “261 hours” after the earthquake and a 14-year-old boy just ahead of them, Fahrettin Koca said on Friday morning.

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The latest official death toll from the 7.8-magnitude earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria at 4:00 a.m. (01:00 GMT) on February 6 surpassed 41,000 dead. The chances of survival now appear lower around the earthquake’s epicenter further north, in mountainous regions like Kahramanmaras and even in snow-capped regions of Elbistan and Adiyaman, where the thermometer has dropped to -15C at night, the AFP teams noted.

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