A 3-year-old young girl was rescued alive from a collapsed apartment building after a strong earthquake in Izmir, Turkey. Her saviours in a rescue mission called this a real miracle.
Elif Perincek, a 3-year-old girl, was pulled out from the rubble of the collapsed apartment building on Monday. Based on Turkey's Disaster and Emergency Management Authority, the rescue mission where the young girl was rescued was 65 hours after the 6.6 magnitude earthquake that shook the country's Aegean coast.
The rescue to the young girl
Elif was wrapped in a foil blanket and was carried through the debris and into an ambulance. She was greeted by the cries of joy from emergency workers. They were determined to rescue her; they all gave her a round of applause.
Tolga Ugel, the paramedic, said that how the young girl was rescued and how she was alive is truly a miracle for them, in which the firefighter who pulled Elif from the rubble, Muammar Celik, agreed.
Celik shared that the 3-year-old young girl held tight to his hand until he was able to bring her to safety. He said that he found Elif in the space between her bed and her dresser lying on her back. He picked her up, cleaned her face to get rid of the dust, and that is where the young girl was rescued and brought in to safety.
The family of the 3-year-old girl
Elif's mother, Seher Dereli Perincek, was said to be rescued from the rubble on Saturday. Twins Ezel and Elzem who are 10, survived alongside Seher. Unfortunately, the family's 7-year-old son Umut had died because of his injuries.
Unsel mentioned that he first thought that Elif was dead, but the young girl moved her eyes as she was being brought to safety, letting her rescuers know that she was indeed alive and breathing.
Later on, as the young girl was rescued, she was taken to hospital and was being treated in intensive care. The girl did not sustain any severe injuries or muscle crush fractures, and she was stable and in good condition.
The earthquake
The earthquake that occurred on Friday around 3 in the afternoon local time was said to have lasted for more than 15 seconds, all the while killing 85 people, and injuring nearly 1000 people more.
Elif was reported to be the 106th person to be rescued from the rubble left behind by the earthquake. Hours earlier, a 14 years old child named Idil was also rescued and saved.
There are some 20 buildings and infrastructure that were also damaged in Izmir by the tremor. Most of these were in the middle-class Bayrakli district.
There are also more than 900 aftershocks registered since the initial earthquake, where 42 of them with a magnitude over 4.0. Aside from these, the earthquake had also triggered a mini tsunami. That caused flooding in parts of Turkey's streets in wider Izmir province as well as in Samos.
