FIVE SYRIAN CHILDREN and their parents have died in a fire that struck a Turkish home they moved to after surviving last week’s earthquake, according to local media.
The family had relocated to the central region of Konya from the southeastern Turkish city of Nurdagi, which was badly hit by the 6 February quake, to stay with relatives.
The death toll from the 7.8-magnitude quake that hit southeastern Turkey and Syria has crossed 41,000 – the deadliest natural disaster in the region in centuries.
The Anadolu state news agency said the five children were aged between four and 13.
“We saw the fire but we could not intervene. A girl was rescued from the window,” local resident Muhsin Cakir told Anadolu.
Elsewhere, Turkish rescuers have pulled a 14-year-old boy and two men nearly 11 days after the huge earthquake, as rescue efforts wind down.
Osman, 14, was rescued 260 hours after the quake struck, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said on Twitter.
He shared an image of the adolescent with his eyes open on a stretcher and said Osman had been taken to hospital in Antakya in the quake-devastated Hatay province.
Rescuers found Osman after hearing sounds in the rubble, Anadolu state news agency reported.
14 yaşındaki Osman 260’ıncı saatte, yoğun çabaların sonucunda tekrar aramızda. Şu an Hatay Mustafa Kemal Üniversitesi Hastanesinde ilk tıbbi müdahalesi gerçekleştiriliyor. Hepimiz adına yavrumuzun yanındayım. pic.twitter.com/4S5aXp6lMc
— Dr. Fahrettin Koca (@drfahrettinkoca) February 16, 2023
One hour later, rescuers elsewhere saved two men aged 26 and 33 in Antakya, Koca said, also sharing images of the men receiving treatment from health workers.
THe DHA news agency named the men as Mehmet Ali Sakiroglu, 26, and Mustafa Avci, 33, and said they had been rescued from the same building’s rubble.
“I’m well, there are no issues,” Avci says during a call to a loved one in a video shared by Koca.
The unseen man on the other end of the line breaks down before Avci asks, “How are my mother and others?”.
“They’re all well, they’re waiting for you,” the man on the other end of the line shouts, as a small smile of relief appears on Avci’s face.
Turkish officials have said rescue efforts in three provinces, Adana, Kilis and Sanliurfa, have been completed.
The quake has killed more than 41,000 people in Turkey and Syria, injured tens of thousands of others and left millions without shelter in freezing temperatures.
Officials and medics said 38,044 people had died in Turkey and 3,688 in Syria, bringing the confirmed total to 41,732. The tremor struck 11 provinces in Turkey.
The 11 Turkish regions hit by the quake and its nearly 5,000 aftershocks are home to more than 1.74 million refugees, according to the United Nations.
Turkey is home to nearly four million Syrians in all.
Mazen Allouch, an official on the Syrian side of the Bab al-Hawa border crossing with Turkey, told AFP today that the bodies 1,528 Syrians killed in the quake have been repatriated home so far.
Includes reporting by – © AFP 2023
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