Syrian toddler Raghad Ismail who survived under the rubble of collapsed building for 24 hours was rescued from the deadly earthquake on Tuesday.
Raghad was rushed to safety from the rubble of her home after it collapsed in a huge earthquake that has wreaked devastation in Syria and Turkey. But most of her family, including her mother and siblings, had died.
Cradled in the arms of a rescue worker, she emerged unscathed from the ruins in the Syrian city of Azaz at daybreak on Monday. An uncle looking after her said her two siblings died along with her mother, who was pregnant.
Also read: Rescue workers Go for survivors as Quake kills over 5000 in Turkey, Syria
Ismail, an 18-month-old, ate a piece of bread as she sat on cushions on the ground under a blanket later in the day, a heater helping shield her from the winter cold.
“The father is feared to have his back broken, his young daughter is fine. His pregnant wife, his five-year-old daughter and his four-year-old son have all been killed,” the uncle who gave his name as Abu Hussam told Reuters.
Abu Hussam said another family in the building, a mother and three children, had been rescued.
Ismail’s family were displaced from the town of Morek during Syria’s 11-year-long war. Azaz, a town near the Turkish border, is held by the opposition to President Bashar al-Assad.
“The large earthquakes in Turkey were clearly registered on the seismographs in Denmark and Greenland,” seismologist Tine Larsen said.
“The waves from the earthquake reached the seismograph on the Danish island of Bornholm approximately five minutes after the shaking started,” Larsen said.
“Eight minutes after the earthquake, the shaking reached the east coast of Greenland, propagating further through all of Greenland,” she added. “We have registered both earthquakes — and a lot of aftershocks — in Denmark and Greenland,” she said.
Meanwhile, the total number of collapsed buildings in Turkey due to the earthquake stands at 6,000, reports Al Jazeera quoting Vice President Fuat Otkay.
Hundreds of people are still believed to be trapped under rubble. Nearly 900 buildings were destroyed in Turkey’s Gaziantep and Kahramanmaras provinces, the report added
The earthquake has killed some 430 people in rebel-held areas of Syria, in addition at least 530 people in government-held parts of the country and more than 1,600 in Turkey.
Recall that in November 2020, Ayda Gezgin, 3, small girl was pulled out of the rubble alive in Turkey’s Izmir on Tuesday, some 91 hours after an earthquake flattened parts of this coastal city.
Video from the scene showed an ashen-faced and wide-eyed girl was freed from the wreckage of a building. Crowds of rescuers in hardhats clapped and cried “Allahu Akbar,” or “God is Great,” in celebration.
The child, whose hair was caked with dust, was immediately wrapped in a gold foil blanket and carried to an ambulance through a sea of rescue workers.
Turkish Goalkeeper dies
Ahmet Eyup Turkaslan, a Turkish goalkeeper, has died after Monday’s earthquake, his club Yeni Malatyaspor have confirmed.
The 28-year-old, who had played six times for the Turkish second division club since joining in 2021, had been missing since two major seismic events struck southern Turkey and northern Syria.
The club confirmed his passing on social media on Tuesday, describing Turkaslan as a “beautiful person”.
“Our goalkeeper, Ahmet Eyup Turkaslan, lost his life after being under the collapse of the earthquake. Rest in peace,” Yeni Malatyaspor said on Twitter.
“Our goalkeeper, Ahmet Eyup Turkaslan, lost his life after being under the collapse of the earthquake. Rest in peace,” Yeni Malatyaspor said on Twitter.
“We will not forget you, beautiful person.”
The official death count is now close to 9,000, with rescuers warning that time is running out for survivors to be found. (Reuters)
