Turkey-Syria earthquake: Newborn baby, family of six and married couple among those saved from beneath rubble
A newborn baby and a family of six are among those to defy the odds and be pulled alive from the rubble in Turkey days after the devastating earthquake.
The rescues come as hopes fade of finding more survivors following Monday’s 7.8 magnitude tremor, in the face of freezing temperatures.
Earthquake latest – Turkey refuses aid from Cyprus
Stories have been emerging of extraordinary human resilience in the face of adversity.
Family of six survives 101 hours under rubble
A woman and her family survived by huddling together in an air pocket
A husband, wife and their four children were rescued after spending 101 hours trapped beneath the debris.
The family managed to survive by huddling together in a small air pocket beneath a collapsed building in Iskenderun, Hatay province.
The tower block was only 600ft from the Mediterranean and the earthquake caused the sea to rise and flood the city centre to within feet of where they were trapped.
Newborn baby rescued
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10-day-old baby rescued after 90 hours
A 10-day-old baby was pulled from the rubble along with her mother 90 hours after catastrophe struck.
The infant, named as Yagiz Ulas, was found by search and rescue teams in Hatay province, according to officials.
Married couple saved
There was relief as Haci Murat Kilinc and his wife, Raziye, were freed. Pic: AP
Rescue workers wept with relief as a married couple who spent 109 hours buried within a small crevice in the rubble were freed.
There were shouts of “God is great” as Haci Murat Kilinc and his wife, Raziye, were carried through a crowd on stretchers to a waiting ambulance in Iskenderun.
One rescue worker said Mr Kilinc had joked with the search team while still trapped beneath the rubble, trying to boost their morale.
He also requested cigarettes and tea while still buried, but had to be refused.
Joy as teenager found
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Tears as teen rescued after 94 hours
Near the epicentre of the quake in the city of Gaziantep, emergency workers rescued Adnan Muhammed Korkut from the basement where had been trapped since the quake.
Trapped for 94 hours, the 17-year-old said he had been forced to drink his own urine to survive.
He smiled at the crowd of friends and relatives who cried tears of joy as he was carried out and placed on a stretcher.
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“Thank God you arrived,” he said, embracing his mother and others who leaned down to kiss and hug him as he was put into an ambulance.
“Thank you everyone.”
A rescue worker called Yasemin, told him: “I have a son just like you.
“I swear to you, I have not slept for four days. I swear I did not sleep; I was trying to get you out.”
Dramatic rescues
Rescuers saved 20-year-old Ibrahim Kantrji, in Kahramanmaras
Dramatic rescues were also reported elsewhere, including in the city of Antakya, where crews saved a 10-year-old girl.
Search teams also found a 20-year-old survivor Ibrahim Kantrji in Kahramanmaras, while Eyup Ak, 60, was pulled to safety in Adiyaman, 104 hours after the earthquake.
Eyup Ak, 60, was trapped for 104 hours. Pic:AP
‘Disaster of the century’
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called it “the disaster of the century”.
With morgues and cemeteries overwhelmed, dead bodies lie wrapped in blankets, rugs and tarpaulins in the streets of some cities.
The Turkish authorities said more than 19,000 people had been confirmed killed in the disaster so far in Turkey, with nearly 75,000 injured.
Some 3,384 have been confirmed killed on the other side of the border in Syria, bringing the total number of dead to more than 22,000.
The total outstrips the more than 18,400 who died in the 2011 earthquake off Fukushima, Japan, that triggered a tsunami and the estimated 18,000 people who died in a tremor near Istanbul in 1999.
‘They’ll die from the cold’
Meanwhile, in the city of Antakya, people scrambled for supplies being distributed from a lorry.
One survivor, Ahmet Tokgoz, called for the government to evacuate people from the region.
He said: “Especially in this cold, it is not possible to live here.
“If people haven’t died from being stuck under the rubble, they’ll die from the cold.”
The winter weather and damage to roads and airports have hampered the rescue effort.
The Turkish government has been criticised for being too slow to respond.
There will be a special programme called Disaster Zone: The Turkey-Syria Earthquake on Sky News on Friday evening at 9.30pm
Israel pounded the outskirts of Gaza City overnight, as Benjamin Netanyahu’s government vowed to press on with a planned offensive on the city.
Families streamed out of the city as the explosions hit.
“I stopped counting the times I had to take my wife and three daughters and leave my home in Gaza City,” said Mohammad, 40.
“No place is safe, but I can’t take the risk. If they suddenly begin the invasion, they will use heavy fire.”
Mahmoud Abedrabo mourns over the body of his son Hamada in Gaza City on 24 August. Pic: Reuters
Others said they would prefer to die and not leave.
“We are not leaving, let them bomb us at home,” said Aya, 31, who has a family of eight, adding that they couldn’t afford to buy a tent or pay for the transportation.
“We are hungry, afraid and don’t have money,” she said.
Mourners pray next to the body of Palestinian boy Hamada Abedrabo on 24 August. Pic: Reuters
Witnesses said that overnight they heard nonstop explosions in Zeitoun and Shejaia.
Tanks shelled houses and roads in Sabra, and buildings were blown up in Jabalia.
On Sunday, the IDF said its forces had returned to combat in Jabalia to strengthen its control of the area and dismantle militant tunnels.
Smoke rises following an Israeli strike in Gaza City. Pic: Reuters
It added that the operation there “enables the expansion of combat into additional areas and prevents Hamas terrorists from returning to operate in these areas.”
This month, Israel approved a plan to seize control of Gaza City. The offensive isn’t expected to start for another few weeks.
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In the meantime, mediators in Egypt and Qatar are trying to resume ceasefire talks between the two sides.
On Friday, Israel’s defence minister Israel Katz said that Gaza City will be razed unless Hamas releases all its remaining hostages and ends the war on Israel’s terms.
Mourners transport the body of Ahmed Balata on 24 August. Pic: Reuters
Around half of Gaza’s two million residents currently live in the city and on Friday a global hunger monitor said that Gaza City and its surrounding areas are officially suffering from famine that will likely spread.
Israel said the monitor ignores steps Israel has taken since late July to increase aid supplies into and across Gaza.
Eight more people died of malnutrition and starvation in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry on Saturday.
281 people, including 114 children, have now died of malnutrition and starvation since the war started, according to the ministry.
The war began on 7 October 2023, when Hamas-led gunmen killed around 1,200 people in southern Israel, mainly civilians, and took 251 hostages.
Since then, Israel has killed at least 62,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza health ministry, and internally displaced nearly its entire population.
Two married couples have died after a British car veered off the road and crashed in Germany, according to police.
The fatal accident happened shortly after midnight on Saturday in the trees near a highway in the Kassel district, north of Hesse in central Germany.
The 32-year-old male driver, a 31-year-old female passenger, a 32-year-old female passenger, and a 30-year-old female passenger all died at the scene, despite the efforts of German emergency services.
Sky News understands UK officials have not been contacted for assistance.
At roughly 12.30am on Saturday, the car appears to have veered off the road and crashed into nearby trees around 30m from the road, according to the Kassel police department.
Pic: Feuerwehr Reinhardshagen
One of the victim’s phones automatically alerted the emergency services to the incident, who sent an ambulance to the scene.
Soon, fire engines, ambulances, command vehicles and emergency support vehicles were all dispatched.
When emergency workers arrived, the car was lying on its side, wedged between several trees.
It wasn’t until they removed the roof that they found all four passengers.
Pic: Feuerwehr Reinhardshagen
The accident happened on Highway L3229
The emergency workers who dealt with the victims were immediately supported by the specialist mental health workers at the fire station in Reinhardshagen.
“This high number of deaths is an extraordinary operation for our Reinhardshagen Volunteer Fire Department,” said a fire department spokesperson.
“For some of the emergency personnel, it is the first time they have been confronted with death in this way.
“Therefore, a great deal is being done to help us process these images. We will also discuss this among ourselves and within families, because not everyone can easily shake off what they have seen.”
An investigation into the accident is ongoing and is being conducted by the Hofgeismar police station.
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