Hope after tragedy: the emotional rescues of survivors after the earthquake in Turkey and Syria

This has been the rescues in Turkey and Syria after the earthquake 1:48

(CNN Spanish) --

Time is pressing and the work of rescuers to find survivors after the deadly 7.8 magnitude earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria on Monday is against the clock.

Three days after the tragedy, thousands of rescuers are still looking for survivors among the rubble, bringing a light of hope in the midst of a tragedy that has already left at least 9,500 dead and of which emergency teams have warned that it could increase over time. of the days.

And while destruction and chaos have created disaster zones in Turkey and Syria, weather conditions have made rescue efforts more difficult, with low temperatures, frigid conditions, and snow and rain in some parts.

By this Wednesday, the already cold temperatures are expected to plummet to several degrees below zero.

Despite the scale of the tragedy, rescuers continue to search for life beneath piles of rubble, slow and difficult work that can take hours, if not days.

These are some cases of emotional rescues in the midst of death and hopelessness.

Innocent lives rise from the rubble

Rescuers have worked grueling days in Syria to find earthquake survivors.

After hours of work they have been able to rescue several children, whose small bodies found a space between the tons of iron and concrete to resist.

These are some of the rescues captured on video.

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Heartwarming rescues of children from the ruins in Syria after earthquake 2:17

Two children survive after 36 hours of terror

In a heartbreaking but hopeful image, rescuers in Syria found two children alive under rubble, 36 hours after the quake struck.

In a video a little girl appears asking to be rescued: "I will do anything for you. I will be your servant," begs the girl, who is called Miriam, who caressed her younger brother's hair, while they both lie trapped under what they can be the remains of his bed.

The girl is able to move her arm far enough to cover the face of her brother, Ilaaf, providing some protection from dust amid the rubble.

A girl in Syria protected her younger brother for 36 hours after the earthquake that devastated Syria and Turkey.

Mustafa Zuhir Al-Sayed, the children's father, said his wife and three children were sleeping early Monday when the earth trembled.

“We felt the ground shaking… and rubble started falling on our head, and we were under the rubble for two days,” he said.

"We went through a feeling, a feeling that I hope no one has to feel."

Trapped under the rubble, Al-Sayed said his family recited the Quran and prayed out loud that someone would find them.

The video shows the children being pulled out of the rubble wrapped in blankets and taken to a hospital for care.

The whole family survived.

A newborn baby survived in Syria

A newborn girl receives treatment inside an incubator at a children's hospital in the city of Afrin, Aleppo province, Syria, Tuesday, February 7, 2023. (Ghaith Alsayed/AP)

A newborn baby was ripped from the arms of death after being rescued from the rubble of her home in northern Syria, after Monday's earthquake.

Her umbilical cord was still attached to her mother when she was found, a relative told Agence France-Presse.

Her mother is believed to have died after giving birth.

"We heard a voice while we were digging," cousin Khalil al-Suwadi told AFP on Tuesday.

"We cleaned up the dust and found the baby with the umbilical cord (intact) so we cut it off and my cousin took her to the hospital."

The girl was taken to a children's hospital in the city of Afrin for medical treatment.

Pediatrician Hani Maarouf told AFP that she is stable but she arrived with bruises, lacerations and hypothermia.

The baby is the sole survivor of her immediate family, according to Suwadi.

They lived in a five-story apartment building that was leveled by the earthquake.

the live rescue

Race against the clock: they rescue a young man from the rubble in Turkey 1:36

A 14-year-old boy was pulled from rubble in the town of Kahramanmaras more than 24 hours after a powerful earthquake struck the region, according to CNN affiliate CNN Turk.

His rescue, broadcast live on CNN Turk, showed emergency crews carrying the boy on a stretcher through the crowd to an ambulance.

"Finally! He's been rescued," a CNN Turk reporter said from the scene, calling it a "miracle."

The boy has been taken to the hospital, the reporter said.

His condition is unknown.

A child crawls out of the destruction

In an overwhelming image left by the earthquake, in Turkey there were moments of joy when a boy was found alive and managed to crawl out through the rubble of a building that collapsed after several hours trapped.

As the child crawls to the surface, the voices of rescuers are heard cheering for the child.

Boy manages to crawl out of rubble in Turkey 1:02

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