After being rescued, a guy who was buried alive for more than 10 days under the wreckage of an earthquake in Turkey asks about his family and meets his newborn daughter for the first time.
33-year-old miracle survivor Mustafa Avci can be heard asking his friend over the phone, “How is my mother and everyone?” in the video posted online by Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca.
Avci was recovered from the remains of a private hospital in Turkey’s Hatay region seconds before the phone call, more than 260 hours after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake ravaged the area on February 6, killing more than 43,000 people in Turkey and neighboring Syria.
The married new father is pictured on a stretcher and wearing a neck brace as he asks his pal for further information about his family.
“Did everybody escape… safely? Avci implores, “Let me hear their voices, if only for a moment.”
The unnamed friend of the survivor is distraught as he reassures Avci that everyone is safe.
“Everyone is healthy…. They are all awaiting your arrival… “I’m coming to you,” the friend declares. “I am driving. … I will come to you… “Brother, I will be there”
Avci then kisses the rescuer’s hand while he holds the phone to his ear.
“May God be a thousand times pleased with you,” he tells the individual.
After being rescued, Avci met his newborn daughter Almile for the first time, as captured by endearing photographs.
The father was discovered Thursday night together with Mehmet Ali Sakiroglu, age 26.
Sakiroglu’s father told CNN following the dramatic rescue that his son was at the hospital for a checkup when the earthquake struck. It is unknown why Avci was at the hospital.
A leg was observed dangling from the wreckage by rescuers after a machine swept the surface of rubble.
According to Koca, both men were treated at an improvised hospital.
Muhammed Enes Yeninar, 17, and Baki Yeninar, 21, were among nine persons retrieved alive from the rubble of an apartment complex in Kahramanmaras two days prior to their rescue.
Baki eventually revealed to rescuers that he survived the experience by using protein powder.
The most recent official figures place the number of fatalities at 43,885. As the search for survivors becomes more desperate, CNN medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta remarked that it is extremely rare for someone to survive more than 100 hours entrapped.
“These are remarkable stories, and people rise to the occasion… in these circumstances,” said Gupta of the survivors.
About two weeks after the original earthquake, donations continue to come in from across the globe as hundreds of survivors in Turkey and Syria struggle to find shelter in the bitter winter weather.
At a briefing in Geneva on Wednesday, Mike Ryan, director of emergencies for the World Health Organization, raised special concern regarding the delivery of aid to rebel-controlled territories in Syria.
“It is evident that the area of greatest concern at this time is northwestern Syria,” he stated.
CNN reports that aid delivery to the region has been hampered by a 2014 UN Security Council resolution that only permits aid to enter the nation at four places along the Turkish border.
Ryan reminded the public that Syria has endured “ten years of war” and that the country’s health care system is “very weak.
In Syria, he explained, “people have been through hell, and the earthquake is the latest physical and psychological strain on an already stressed population.”
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