RESCUERS PULLED A 13-year-old boy alive from the rubble of a collapsed apartment building early Friday, over 100 hours after a massive earthquake
A picture by the state-run Anatolia news agency showed a rescue team carrying Ferhat Tokay out of the debris, wearing a neck brace. In other pictures from a field hospital, he appeared conscious and looking at his rescuers.
Tokay’s rescue in Ercis came 108 hours after Sunday’s 7.2-magnitude earthquake, the agency said. The quake levelled many buildings in eastern Turkey, killing at least 550 people.
The agency said the boy was injured but did not give further details.
The temblor has killed at least 550 people and injured 2,300 others, according to the country’s disaster management, AFAD, website updated Thursday evening. Thousands of homeless in tents were struggling in the bitter cold as rain and snow brought on more hardship.
Television footage on Thursday showed a rescue team cheering and clapping as another young man, wearing a red sweater and strapped to a stretcher, was also carried out of the debris. His eyes were shut most of the time, but he opened them at one point.
The Anatolia agency identified the man as 18-year-old Imdat Padak. He was rescued by an Azerbaijani crew.
Padak was flown to the nearby city of Van and was dehydrated, but in good condition, according to the news agency.
Emergency officials said 187 have been rescued from the rubble. About 2,000 buildings have been destroyed and authorities declared another 3,700 buildings unfit for habitation.
More aid began to reach survivors, with Turkish authorities delivering more tents after acknowledging distribution problems that included aid trucks being looted even before they reached Ercis.
Families who did snag precious aid tents shared them with others. But some people spent a fifth night outdoors huddled under blankets in front of campfires, either waiting for news of the missing or keeping watch over damaged homes.
Sermin Yildirim, eight months pregnant, was sharing a tent with a family of four who were distant relatives, along with her own twins and husband. Her family was too afraid of returning to their apartment.
“It’s getting colder, my kids are coughing. I don’t know how long we will have to stay here,” Yildirim said. “We were not able to get a tent. We are waiting to get our own.”
These were the scenes as the 18-year-old was rescued on a stretcher yesterday:
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