Turkey finds a new survivor: About 12 days after a horrific earthquake that claimed tens of thousands of lives, Turkish rescuers on Friday retrieved a 45-year-old man from the rubble.
Despite being trapped for so long under the debris in the frigid weather, teams have been finding survivors all week, though their numbers have decreased to just a few in recent days.
In the severely damaged Hatay, a southern region close to the Syrian border, the guy, Hakan Yasinoglu, was rescued 278 hours after the 7.8-magnitude tremor.
Pictures shared on social media showed rescuers carefully escorting a man on a stretcher through the rubble of a destroyed structure.
To prevent him from falling, he was strapped to the stretcher and clothed in a golden thermal jacket.
He was taken away right away and put in an ambulance that was standing by.
His face was hidden, and in contrast to past late rescues, where teams cheered or applauded, the atmosphere on the scene looked solemn.
With the search going on around the clock at some locations, furthermore, three more persons, including a 14-year-old kid, were rescued late on Thursday and early on Friday.
Less than 200 sites in the region are still in need of rescue, according to Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay on Friday.
More than 41,000 people have been killed by the earthquake in Turkey and Syria. Tens of thousands more have been injured, and millions are left without shelter in the frigid weather.
However, In Turkey, the tremor was felt in 11 provinces. Rescue operations, according to Turkish officials, have been finished in the three provinces of Adana, Kilis, and Sanliurfa.