The Day

Amid all that death, a life here, there

Rescuers pull more than a dozen survivors from quake rubble Saturday; more than 28,000 killed

- By JUSTIN SPIKE, ABDELRAHMA­N SHAHEEN and ZEYNEP BILGINSOY

Latakia, Syria — Ibrahim Zakaria lost track of time drifting into and out of consciousn­ess while trapped for nearly five days in the rubble of his home following the massive earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria this past week.

The 23-year-old cellphone shop worker from the Syrian town of Jableh survived on dirty drips of water and eventually lost hope that he’d be saved.

“I said I am dead and it will be impossible for me to live again,” Zakaria, who was rescued Friday night, told The Associated Press on Saturday from his bed at a hospital in the coastal city of Latakia where his 60-yearold mother, Duha Nurallah, was also recovering.

Five days after two powerful earthquake­s hours apart caused thousands of buildings to collapse, killing more than 28,000 people and leaving millions homeless, rescuers were still pulling unlikely survivors from the ruins — one of them just 7 months old.

Although each rescue elicited hugs and shouts of “Allahu akbar!” — “God is great!” — from the weary men and women working tirelessly in the freezing temperatur­es to save lives, they were the exception in a region blanketed by grief, desperatio­n and mounting frustratio­n.

More than a dozen survivors were rescued Saturday, including a family in Kahramanma­ras, the Turkish city closest to the epicenter of Monday’s quake. Crews there helped 12-year-old Nehir Naz Narli to safety before going back for her parents.

In Gaziantep province, which borders Syria, a family of five was rescued from a demolished building in the city of Nurdagi, and a man and his 3-yearold daughter were pulled from debris in the town of Islahiye, television network HaberTurk reported. A 7-yearold girl was also rescued in Hatay province.

In Elbistan, a district in Kahramanma­ras province, 20-year-old Melisa Ulku and another person were saved from the rubble 132 hours after the quake struck. Before she was brought to safety, police asked onlookers not to cheer or clap so as not to interfere with nearby rescue efforts.

Turkish TV station NTV reported that a 44-year-old man in Iskenderun, in Hatay province, was rescued 138 hours into his ordeal. Crying rescuers called it a miracle, with one saying they weren’t expecting to find anyone alive but as they were digging, they saw his eyes and he said his name. In the same province, NTV also reported that a baby boy named Hamza was found alive in Antakya 140 hours after the quake. Some details of his rescue, including how he survived so long, weren’t immediatel­y clear.

Not every attempt ended happily. Zeynep Kahraman, who was brought out of the rubble after a spectacula­r rescue that took 50 hours, died at a hospital overnight. The ISAR German team who rescued her were shocked and saddened.

“It is important that the family could say goodbye, that they could see each other one more time, that they could hug each other again,” a member of the rescue team told German TV news channel n-tv.

The rescues came amid growing frustratio­n over the Turkish government’s response to the earthquake, which has killed 24,617 people and injured at least 80,000 people in Turkey alone.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan acknowledg­ed earlier in the week that the initial response was hampered by the extensive damage to roads and other infrastruc­ture that made it difficult to reach some points. He also said the worst-affected area was 310 miles in diameter and was home to 13.5 million people in Turkey.

That has meant rescue crews have had to pick and choose how and where to help.

During a tour of quake-damaged cities Saturday, Erdogan said a disaster of this scope was rare and again referred to it as the “disaster of the century.”

But the challenges facing aid efforts were of little comfort to those waiting for help.

In Antakya, the capital of Hatay province, scattered rescue crews were still hard at work but many residents had left by Saturday. Among those who stayed were people with family still buried. Many of them had been camping in the streets for days and sleeping in cars.

 ?? CAN OZER/AP PHOTO ?? Rescuers carry a 12-year-old boy to an ambulance Saturday after they pulled him out five days after the Monday earthquake in Antakya, Turkey. Rescuers miraculous­ly continue to pull earthquake survivors out of the rubble.
CAN OZER/AP PHOTO Rescuers carry a 12-year-old boy to an ambulance Saturday after they pulled him out five days after the Monday earthquake in Antakya, Turkey. Rescuers miraculous­ly continue to pull earthquake survivors out of the rubble.
 ?? PETROS GIANNAKOUR­IS/AP PHOTO ?? Atari Kales mourns Saturday in Antakya for her daughter-in-law and two grandchild­ren. The three were trapped in a building that collapsed during the earthquake.
PETROS GIANNAKOUR­IS/AP PHOTO Atari Kales mourns Saturday in Antakya for her daughter-in-law and two grandchild­ren. The three were trapped in a building that collapsed during the earthquake.

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