Turkey Earthquake: 10-day-old baby rescued after 90 hours trapped in the freezing cold!

turkey earthquake baby rescue

As many days have passed since the deadly earthquake devastated Turkey and Syria, hopes for those trapped under the rubble (which many estimate to be in the thousands) are beginning to fade. However, there is no shortage of cases that rekindle hope and show that all is not yet over.

Typical is the example of Yağız Ulaş, a newborn girl just 10 days old, who was pulled alive from under the rubble of a building in Hatay province together with his mother. Both mother and baby had been buried for a full 90 hours, but managed to stay alive until rescuers found them.

The news of the rescue of the infant and his mother made the rounds on social media, with many expressing their gratitude to the rescuers who have not stopped trying to save as many lives as possible.

"Yağız Ulaş is only 10 years old. 90 hours after the earthquake, she was freed from the ruins with her mother," wrote Ekrem İmamoğlu on Twitter, in one of dozens of comments on the incident.

The death toll in Turkey has risen to 18,342, bringing the total number of people killed to 21,719, a staggering number in just five days, and one expected to grow. It’s an increase of 668 people overnight.

According to the most recent updates from Syria, 3,377 have died there.

The rescue of several survivors from the rubble of buildings in Turkey lifted the spirits of weary search crews on Friday, four days after a major earthquake struck the country and neighbouring Syria, killing at least 20,000 people.

Cold, hunger and despair gripped hundreds of thousands of people left homeless by the tremors, the deadliest in the region for decades.

Several people were rescued from the rubble of buildings during the night, including a 10-year-old boy saved with his mother after 90 hours in the Samandag district of Hatay province, AP reports.

Also in Hatay, a seven-year-old girl named Asya Donmez was rescued after 95 hours and taken to hospital, the state-owned Anadolu news agency reported.

But hopes were fading that many more would be found alive in the ruins of thousands of collapsed buildings in towns and cities across the region.

The death toll from the 7.8 magnitude earthquake and several powerful aftershocks across both countries has surpassed the more than 17,000 killed in 1999 when a similarly powerful earthquake hit northwest Turkey.

It now ranks as seventh most deadly natural disaster this century, ahead of Japan’s 2011 tremor and tsunami and approaching the 31,000 killed by a quake in neighbouring Iran in 2003.

The US Treasury Department said Thursday it had issued a licenCe to allow earthquake-related relief to get through that would otherwise be prohibited by sanctions on Syria.

“US sanctions in Syria will not stand in the way of life-saving efforts for the Syrian people,” deputy Treasury secretary Wally Adeyemo said in a statement.

“While US sanctions programs already contain robust exemptions for humanitarian efforts, today Treasury is issuing a blanket General License to authorise earthquake relief efforts so that those providing assistance can focus on what’s needed most: saving lives and rebuilding.”

The license lasts for six months. It expands on broad humanitarian authorisations already in effect.

The United States will provide $85m in initial earthquake aid to Turkey and Syria, which will include medicine, shelter and other supplies, President Joe Biden announced. “Our hearts remain with the people of Türkiye and Syria,” he said on Twitter:

READ MORE: Antiochian Greeks missing in Antakya: Greek rescuers prioritise finding them.

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