Ankara: Rescue teams pulled out an 80-year-old woman alive, 8 days after the earthquake in Turkey. The death toll from the earthquake in Turkey and Syria has so far surpassed the mark of 35,000.
According to Turkish media reports, the Aid organization ‘Gift of the Givers’ rescued an 80-year-old woman buried under rubble in Turkey following a massive earthquake that hit 10 cities in the country a week ago.
The woman was found alive and rescued by the team, which also included the K9 unit and the Omani search and rescue unit.
Rescuers used heavy machinery to dig through collapsed buildings for more than two hours. Head of the K9 team, Brigadier Vimla Moodley told five sniffer dogs was deployed there for rescue work.
Moodley said desperate families, who were looking for loved ones, reached out to the team for assistance – and, often, all they could find were deceased members.
“Some families want closure… we assist by using the dogs and, that way, the bodies are removed and handed over to families,” she said.
Dr Qasim Bhorat, one of the team’s rescuers, told the woman was dehydrated although she was “relatively well”.
He said the team had extracted several bodies of deceased people before the K9 dogs directed them to the woman.
Bhorat said the experience of rescuing people under the rubble was emotional. “It is a bit disheartening seeing disfigured bodies, smashed and in a bad state. Finding someone alive has given us a shot in the arm, while that window is still there,” he said.