A 17-year-old girl was rescued from the rubble on Thursday, eleven days after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit southern Turkey, an AFP journalist said.
Aleyna Ölmez - whose surname in Turkish means "the one who does not die" - is one of the few survivors still discovered under the rubble despite the cold and violence of the February 6 earthquake which killed more than 36,000 people in Turkey.
The girl had been buried under the rubble of her apartment building in Kahramanmaras, southern Turkey, for 248 hours.
At the time of the rescue, she was conscious and was able to close and open her eyes following the instructions of medical teams, a rescuer told AFP.
In tears, her uncle embraced one by one the volunteers who rescued her from the rubble.
"We were so happy. Seeing the joy of the family is incomparable," said Ismail, a rescue worker.
Made up largely of miners from different towns in the country, volunteers are still busy trying to find survivors in the ruins.
"All miners will tell you the same thing. We came here hoping to locate a sound from a survivor," said Ali Akdogan, a miner.
"Even if the sound we locate is that of a cat, we will also try to save it".
16/02/2023 17:09:33 Kahramanmaras (Turquie) (AFP) © 2023 AFP
