Survivor found 278 hours after Turkey quake

Survivor found 278 hours after Turkey quake

A man was discovered in the ruins on Friday, 278 hours after the earthquake that devastated southern Turkey on February 6, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said on Twitter.

• Also read: The death toll in Turkey and Syria exceeds 41,000

• Also read: Turkey: Three new survivors emerged from rubble in Antakya

• Also read: Turkey: Family of Syrian earthquake survivors dies in fire

The survivor, Hakan Yasinoglu, 45 years old according to private broadcaster NTV, was found on the twelfth day of the disaster in the ruins of Hatay province, near the Syrian border, which notably includes the completely devastated city of Antakya.

The survivor was pulled from a mountain of rubble, according to a video of (oppositional) Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, who dispatched city government rescue teams to the affected areas.

The latest three discovered survivors were also found in central Antakya: two men, aged 33 and 26, were rescued “261 hours” after the earthquake and a 14-year-old boy just ahead of them, Mr Koca said on Friday morning.

The latest official figure from the 7.8-magnitude earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria at 4 a.m. on February 6 exceeds 41,000 dead.

The chances of survival now appear lower around the earthquake’s epicenter further north, in mountainous regions like Kahramanmaras and even in snow-capped regions of Elbistan and Adiyaman, where the thermometer has dropped to -15C at night, the AFP teams noted.