Amazing images shows hope as young lives are saved but the death toll in Turkey ... trends now
Rescuers battled to save earthquake survivors yesterday amid warnings that time is running out for thousands trapped under flattened homes.
A newborn baby was among those pulled from the rubble after relatives found her still attached to her dead mother by umbilical cord.
The mother died when a massive quake hit their home in Jinderis, Syria, apparently within moments of giving birth.
The baby’s immediate family were killed, leaving her the sole survivor, but she was discovered by other relatives after they heard noises as they dug through the debris of the home. Elsewhere, a young boy called Ahmed was saved after rescuers spotted three of his toes poking out from under a slab of concrete in Qatma. Syria. In southern Turkey, Hulya Yilmaz and her baby Ayse Vera were rescued after 29 hours under the rubble of a collapsed building.
And a video from Afrin, Syria showed the incredible moment rescuers dug out a tiny girl from rubble as her father tried to keep her calm. The father said: ‘Dad is here – don’t be scared!’ Another film was posted on Twitter showing two sisters trapped under a concrete slab at an unknown location pleading for help.
A newborn baby was among those pulled from the rubble after relatives found her still attached to her dead mother by umbilical cord
The baby’s immediate family were killed, leaving her the sole survivor, but she was discovered by other relatives after they heard noises as they dug through the debris of the home
The death toll from Monday’s quakes which devastated huge swathes of Turkey and Syria last night reached 7,200 amid fears the disaster could claim up to 20,000 lives. More than 5,400 people are known to have died in Turkey, with a further 1,800 in Syria.
The United Nations children’s agency UNICEF said thousands of youngsters may have been killed.
Three Britons are among those missing while at least 35 UK nationals were caught up in the chaos. In some places, quake survivors said they could hear the voices of trapped people, but rescuers had not arrived on the scene.
Aftershocks and blocked roads have hampered rescue efforts, while the overwhelming scale of the disaster has stretched resources and equipment
Sub-zero temperatures mean some trapped people may die from hypothermia and exposure before they can be saved.
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan said 13million of his country’s citizens were affected in some way and declared a three-month state of emergency in ten provinces. The World Health Organisation put the overall number of people affected in Turkey and
