Twins (1.5) Pulled From the Rubble in Gaziantep After 40 Hours

In Gaziantep, rescuers rescued twins aged one and a half from under the rubble after 40 hours. They lived on the fifth floor of an apartment building and survived the disaster. Their father and mother were also saved.

 

At first glance, there seemed little chance of survivors after a six-story apartment building was reduced to a heap of rubble following the earthquake in Gaziantep, Turkey. But neighbours did not give up. A man climbed onto what used to be the roof of the building and heard the voice of his brother, who lived with his wife and children on the fifth floor of the building.

By the afternoon, rescuers had located the man’s family and began working through the debris. However, they had to be extremely careful to prevent the building from collapsing further.

The building is said to be more than twenty years old, writes the New York Times, and therefore did not meet the stricter standards after the earthquake of 1999. All the houses around were still standing, but nothing remained in the building where Ibrahim Karapirli and his family lived.

The rescuers used a special camera to get to the Karapirli family. After removing additional debris and bringing material to the family, loud cries were heard after several hours. Twins (1.5), a girl named Elcin and a boy named Eray Ahmet were brought up by rescuers. They ended up lying under the rubble for about 40 hours. The mother and father followed not much later. But there was still no trace of their two other children, Enes (11) and Erdem (12), on Wednesday.

The rescuers do not know precisely how many people are under the rubble. A man told the New York Times that his wife had died, but his son was still in the building. A woman stated that her 90-year-old father-in-law lived there alone. His bed was found, but the man himself was not in his room.