Incredible survival stories after earthquakes in Syria and Turkey as death toll reaches 20,000

The death toll from the twin earthquakes that devastated southeastern Turkey and northern Syria earlier this week has now exceeded 20,000, with time running out to find survivors.

This is already the deadliest natural disaster to hit Türkiye since 1939, with a terrible casualty milestone coming tonight and UN and WHO experts predicting the toll will rise. increased even more.

Phản ứng của chính phủ Tổng thống Thổ Nhĩ Kỳ Recep Tayyip Erdogan đối với thảm họa đã vấp phải sự chỉ trích gay gắt, và hàng chục nghìn người phải di tản thoát khỏi thiệt hại ngay lập tức của trận động đất hiện phải đối mặt với nhiệt độ mùa đông khắc nghiệt và thiếu nguồn cung cấp.

Nhưng bất chấp những cảnh tượng đau thương về cái chết và sự hủy diệt được cả thế giới chứng kiến, những câu chuyện ấn tượng về lòng dũng cảm và vận may vẫn tiếp tục xuất hiện từ đống đổ nát.

Hơn 72 giờ đã trôi qua kể từ trận động đất và những người vẫn bị mắc kẹt dưới đống đổ nát được cho là có rất ít cơ hội sống sót, nhưng mỗi giờ trôi qua dường như lại mang đến một tia hy vọng khác  khi một đứa trẻ hoặc một gia đình khác được giải cứu. 

Tại đây, MailOnline hãy xem một số câu chuyện truyền cảm hứng và cảm động nhất về sức chịu đựng và khả năng sinh tồn đã xuất hiện cho đến nay. 

Một đoạn video đau đớn được quay ngày hôm qua cho thấy một cậu bé người Syria tên là Muhammed Ahmed tỏ ra dũng cảm dù bị mắc kẹt dưới đống đổ nát suốt 45 giờ.

Lực lượng cứu hộ đã cố gắng tiếp cận đứa trẻ, khuôn mặt đầy bụi và trầy xước do tòa nhà sụp đổ, nhưng không thể đưa cậu bé ra khỏi bê tông và cậu bé bắt đầu mờ dần do mất nước và kiệt sức.

Không chịu để cậu bé lãng phí, lực lượng cứu hộ đổ nước vào nắp chai và trượt nó qua một khoảng trống trên đống đổ nát. Muhammed nhấp từng ngụm chất lỏng xuống và bất chấp tình trạng khó khăn khủng khiếp của mình, anh vẫn nở một nụ cười nhẹ với những người cứu hộ.

Khoảnh khắc cảm động giữa một cậu bé tuyệt vọng và những người cứu cậu ngay lập tức được lan truyền rộng rãi và có lý do chính đáng. 

Khi số người chết tiếp tục gia tăng và các nhà phân tích thảo luận về các sự kiện, số liệu thống kê và số liệu liên quan đến trận động đất, đoạn clip về Muhammed mệt mỏi và bị thương đang cười ngây thơ với những người cứu hộ sau 45 giờ đau khổ đóng vai trò như một lời nhắc nhở rõ ràng về cái giá phải trả về con người. 

Vài giờ sau khi trận động đất tàn phá những vùng đất rộng lớn ở miền bắc Syria, một đoạn clip đau lòng được công bố hôm thứ Ba cho thấy khoảnh khắc một em bé sơ sinh được tìm thấy dưới đống đổ nát. 

The mother was buried when the devastating earthquake hit her home in Jinderis  and reduced the building to nothing but bricks and mortar.

She went into labour moments after the horrific incident and tragically died just moments after giving birth. 

The baby’s immediate family – both parents and four siblings – were also killed, but she was later discovered by other relatives who heard faint cries coming from the debris of the family home. 

They dug with their bare hands to free the rubble and to their utter amazement found the baby, still alive, and attached to her dead mother via the umbilical cord. 

Cutting and tying the cord they rushed the hours-old child to receive medical treatment in the neighbouring town of Afrin, where hospital manager Khaled Attiah took her in as his own. 

When asked by the Daily Telegraph what the baby would be called, he replied, ‘Aya’ – which translates from Arabic as ‘miracle’. 

A fitting name for a girl who started her life buried under tons of concrete.

A pair of videos have shown rescuers working to save not only humans, but also their beloved pets.

In Hatay, Turkey, a bunch of rescuers were seen frantically pulling at debris in an attempt to extract university student Kerem Cetin from a collapsed building.

But Kerem refused to let his rescuers save him without first ensuring his cat, a fluffy white and ginger mog called Strawberry, was safe and sound. 

The red-helmeted rescuers duly turned their attention to the cat, who was lodged under rubble alongside his owner and wrapped in what looked to be a blanket.

It appeared the love Kerem had for his pet was mutual – when the rescuers managed to free the feline, he clawed and scratched at the blanket, seemingly reluctant to leave Kerem’s side. 

Once he had been pulled out, however, he quickly calmed down and the rescuers delighted in the touching moment before returning to extract Kerem. Both were eventually rescued and sustained only minor injuries.

In the same city, a separate video showed a little white dog buried up to his neck in debris, looking on desperately for help. A search party noticed the hound and loosened the rocks around his body as they fed him water from their bare hands. 

The mutt waited patiently and duly lapped up the water before he eventually being pulling free. He was evidently in no rush to escape and sat very happily in the arms of his rescuers. 

Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan dispatched his presidential plane to fly 16 babies, all of whom were found alive but alone in the aftermath of the earthquakes, to safety in the capital city of Ankara. 

The plane was put on standby for rescue missions and other earthquake-related activities, including carrying medical teams and aid to regions of the country, in the aftermath of the tremors earlier this week.

It is also being used to transport critically injured people to Ankara for treatment. 

All 16 babies on board the flight were found alone in the earthquake zones. They were collected by the foster mothers of the Ministry of Family and Social Services from the plane which landed at Esenboğa Airport.   

From there, they were taken to Etlik City Hospital for treatment. All 16 are said to be doing well.

Heartwarming images show the infants in the arms of their rescuers on board the plane, wrapped in multiple blankets amid a cold snap in the country. 

The tragedy may be localised to Turkey and Syria, but aid organisations and governments from around the world have flocked to the region to offer their support and lifesaving expertise.

One rescue effort, coordinated by British and German workers, saw a Turkish mother and her little boy extracted from the rubble of a building in Kahramanmaras, close to the epicentre of the disaster.

The pair had been trapped under a mountain of debris which looked more like a natural cave formation than the remnants of a building, such was the quantity of the rocks and stones that surrounded them. 

But despite spending more than 72 hours unable to move, both were hauled to their freedom after an eight-hour rescue operation and have survived despite sustaining considerable injuries and severe dehydration.

One little girl was found protecting her younger brother after they were trapped under the debris of their collapsed home following the series of devastating earthquakes.

Video footage captured the moving moment the two frightened young siblings were found by rescuers amid the rubble in Syria.

Seven-year-old Mariam and her younger brother Ilaaf were trapped in the debris for some 36 hours.

In the clip, she told the emergency worker: ‘Sir, if you rescue me and my brother, I’ll do whatever you want. But get us out of here.’

The children were stuck under rubble at their home in Besnaya-Bseineh near Haram, Syria.

In the footage, Mariam’s younger sibling can be seen trapped under the concrete ruins as responders scramble to rescue the pair.

The girl then moves her arm over her younger brother’s head to protect him.  

A photo was later shared of the two kids resting on a bed after they were rescued from their horrific ordeal.

Their father, Mustafa Zuhir Al-Sayed, said he, his wife and their three children were sleeping when the quake struck.

He said: ‘The rubble started falling on top of us and we were under the rubble for two days.’They were all rescued from the devastated house.