A 13-year-old boy survived 128 hours in debris from the massive 7.8 magnitude earthquake in Hatay, Turkey.
Arda Can Ovun was pulled from the rubbish after being trapped for 128 hours. He was wrapped in foil and given a brace for his neck as he was lifted free from the ground on a stretcher.
As hope for remaining survivors faded, rescuers pulled the boy and others on Saturday, five days after the country’s most devastating earthquake since 1939.
The growing death toll exceeds 24,150 across southern Turkey and northwest Syria. Turkey’s President, Tayyip Erdogan, shared on Friday that authorities should have reacted faster.
Northwest Syria suffered the country’s worst damage from the earthquake. Relief efforts are complicated due to the more than decade-old civil war, which has resulted in very little aid there. However, the Damascus government said yesterday it would allow convoys to cross frontlines, News Radio reported.
In Turkey, 67 people had been rescued from the rubble over the past 24 hours thanks to the 31,000 rescuers that came out to help, Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay told reporters.
About 80,000 people have been treated in hospitals, and 1.05 million who are homeless remain in temporary shelters, he added.
A 70-year-old woman and a nine-year-old boy were also rescued in Kahramanmaras, and a 55-year-old woman was pulled from the rubble in the eastern city of Diyarbakir over the night. However, a woman who was rescued yesterday in Kirikhan later died in the hospital.
