The collapse of a building due to the earthquake in Turkey 0:47
(CNN Spanish) --
The family of Johanna Carolina Kap, a Colombian who disappeared after the earthquake in Turkey and Syria that has already left more than 11,000 dead, has been desperately searching for her for days, distributing her photo and information in WhatsApp groups and social networks.
This Wednesday they received news that gives them hope: according to the people who were with Johana Carolina after the earthquake, the Colombian was taken out alive from the rubble.
The Colombian was in the city of Adiyaman, in the southeast of Turkey, on a university excursion to graduate as a professional tourist guide.
She is staying at a hotel that is known to have collapsed during the powerful earthquake.
CNN en Español spoke with Kap's nephew, Nicolás Millán, who said that the last time they spoke to her was on Sunday morning, Colombian local time, before the earthquake.
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Johana Carolina's husband, Ehran Kap, is Turkish, and he was in Istanbul when the powerful quake struck.
"The earthquake occurred at 8 p.m. Colombia time and Erhan called at dawn from Sunday to Monday to tell us that Johana Carolina did not appear," Millán said.
The husband has already traveled to Adiyaman to find out more about the situation.
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Johana Carolina Kap and her husband, Ehran.
"Erhan is a professional tour guide and since Johana Carolina was with her friends and colleagues on that excursion, they told her husband that they saw her being taken out. Some saw her and others heard that she was fine, she looked fine but now they don't know where she is," added the nephew.
The family learned this Wednesday through groups of tourist guides in Turkey that organized to report on the victims and missing persons that Johana Carolina was apparently found alive, but they are still awaiting details from the local authorities.
The whereabouts are not yet known.
The Colombian Foreign Ministry issued a statement confirming the family's information:
"According to information provided to the Embassy by the Union of Chambers of Tourist Guides (TUREB), with which the compatriot was advancing a business trip in the city of Adıyaman, Johana Carolina left alive where he was."
"Calls and visits have been made to the hospitals in Istanbul, Mersin and Ankara. Likewise, the care and communication protocols have been followed with the Turkish authorities through its Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In this sense, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Colombia with its diplomatic mission in Ankara, will continue with the work of locating Johana Carolina, as appropriate," they added.
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Kap's family had thought about traveling to Turkey, according to the nephew, but for now they prefer to wait for indications from the authorities and the Colombian embassy in Turkey.