A three-year-old girl was pulled from the rubble 91 hours after a powerful earthquake hit western Turkey, killing more than 100 people, officials and reporters at the scene said.
“We have witnessed a miracle in the 91st hour,” Izmir Mayor Tunc Soyer wrote in a tweet. “Rescue teams pulled Ayda out alive. Along with the great pain we have experienced, we have this joy as well.”
The mayor initially said she was four-years-old, but Turkish Minister of Health Fahrettin Koca later clarified she was three.
Photo: AFP / Turkish Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency
Ayda was rescued from a collapsed building in the coastal city of Izmir, the worst affected by the magnitude 7 quake that struck Turkey and Greece on Friday afternoon.
As she was taken to safety and wrapped in a foil blanket, she called for her mother, an Agence France-Presse correspondent said, as the anxious crowd broke into rapturous applause, with some hugging each other and others crying.
There were also joyous shouts of Allahu Akbar (“God is Great”).
Photo: EPA-EFE
The TRT state broadcaster gave the girl’s name as Ayda Gezgin.
The news channel NTV said she immediately asked for water and ayran, a salty drink made from yogurt.
Rescuers said they became aware there was still someone alive at the site on Monday night, before painstakingly working to reach her.
Rescuer Nusret Aksoy told reporters that he heard a child scream before locating the girl next to a dishwasher.
He said Ayla waved at him, told him her name and said that she was okay.
The Milliyet daily reported that her mother remained trapped underneath the rubble.
The rescue came a day after a four-year-old and a 14-year-old were found alive in the rubble of collapsed buildings in Izmir, providing hope that more people could still be rescued.
The death toll from the quake yesterday rose to 102 in Turkey, Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD) reported, with 1,026 people injured, including 143 still in hospital.
Turkey has reported more than 1,475 aftershocks following the quake, including 44 that were above magnitude 4.
With dozens of buildings damaged and the risk of repeated tremors, thousands of residents were forced to spend a fourth night in tents in Izmir.
Additional reporting by AP
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