Turkey earthquake: Young girl rescued after 178 hours under rubbleon February 13, 2023 at 1:47 pm

A young girl has been saved from the rubble of a block of flats in southern Turkey, more than a week after the devastating earthquake struck.

Miray had been trapped in the ruins for 178 hours – seven-and-a-half days.

Video showed workers cheering and shouting “God is great” as she was lifted out of the darkness. Elsewhere, a woman was saved after 175 hours under a collapsed building.

Rescues are becoming rarer as the number of dead passes 35,000.

This is partially due to limits on how long the human body can survive without water – especially in cold temperatures.

The final death toll in Turkey and neighbouring Syria is likely to be much higher, with the United Nations’ humanitarian chief warning it could “double or more”.

Miray – the young girl rescued on Monday in the city of Adiyaman – was attached to a stretcher and carried away by rescue workers. Local media reported that rescuers were close to finding her older sister.

In hard-hit Hatay, a woman named Naide Umay was rescued after 175 hours under the rubble, before being taken to hospital in an ambulance.

Thousands of teams across the region – including coal miners and experts using thermal cameras and sniffer dogs – have been scouring the remains of collapsed buildings to find remaining survivors.

But hopes of finding people alive are dwindling and there is a sense that the rescue mission will soon end.

The focus is shifting to recovery, with officials looking at shelter, food and healthcare.

Questions are also being raised about whether the natural disaster’s impact was made worse by human failings.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has admitted shortcomings in the response, but during one visit to a disaster zone last week, he appeared to blame fate.

Officials say they have issued 113 arrest warrants in connection with the construction of buildings that collapsed, with 12 people taken into custody, including contractors.