The death toll from the Turkey-Syria earthquakes has passed 17,000. At least 16,170 people have died in Turkey, according to the country’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, while at least 3,162 have been killed in Syria.
Hopes for finding survivors after the deadly earthquake in Turkey and Syria are fading, but rescue teams are not giving up the fight and are still reporting successes, as was the case yesterday with the rescue of a baby, some 68 hours after Enceladus struck.
During the night, as reported by the Turkish state network TRT, rescuers managed to retrieve the baby from the ruins of a building that was leveled in the city of Hatay in southeastern Turkey.
Rescue efforts continue as untold others remain trapped under the rubble. Small miracles in the rubble are what give courage to rescuers who are working tirelessly to find survivors of the deadly earthquake in Turkey and Syria.
People are digging with their own hands in many areas, but the situation is particularly dire in northwestern Syria, where there is little heavy machinery to lift rubble. Power outages have resulted in fuel shortages in hospitals.
Over 8,000 people have so far been rescued from the rubble. A TRT reporter described the desperate battle against time: “Rescuers refuse to give up,” she said, but moments of joy at a new rescue are becoming rarer and rarer.
Experts have said the toll of both dead and injured is expected to continue to rise sharply in the coming days.
