Aleyna Ölmez, buried under the rubble of her building, was conscious at the time of the salvage on Thursday.
By Le Figaro with AFP
Published on 02/16/2023 at 13:25
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Aleyna Olmez’s uncle with the 17-year-old young woman who was rescued from a collapsed building 248 hours after the earthquake in Kahramanmaras, Turkey, on February 16, 2023. OZAN KOSE / AFP
A 17-year-old girl was rescued from the rubble on Thursday, 11 days after a 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck southern Turkey, an AFP journalist said.
Aleyna Ölmez – whose surname means “the one who does not die” in Turkish – is one of the rare survivors still alive despite the cold and violence of the February 6 earthquake that killed more than 36,000 people in Turkey was discovered under the rubble.
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If conscious during rescue
The girl had been buried for 248 hours under the rubble of her home in Kahramanmaras, southern Turkey. At the time of the rescue, she was conscious and could close and open her eyes according to the medical team’s instructions, a rescuer told AFP. In tears, her uncle hugged the volunteers who rescued her from the rubble one by one. “We were so happy. Seeing the joy of the family is beyond compare,” said Ismail, a first responder.
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The volunteers, made up largely of miners from different towns across the country, are still busy finding survivors among the ruins. “All miners will tell you the same thing. We came here hoping to locate a sound made by a survivor,” said Ali Akdogan, a miner. “Even if the noise we locate is that of a cat, we will try to save it too.”