EXCLUSIVE: Race against time to save three schoolgirl sisters amid hope they are still alive under rubble in Turkey eight days after quake destroyed their apartment building
- A team of rescuers crawled into a crevice to try and reach the potential survivors
- They have been trapped for more than 200 hours following the earthquake
Rescuers were holding out a glimmer of hope today that three young sisters may be alive under the rubble of an apartment building which collapsed in Turkey’s devastating earthquake eight-days-ago.
A team using specialist listening equipment heard the sound of faint tapping as they tunnelled into the ruins of the block in the city of Kahramanmaras near the epicentre of last Monday’s disaster.
MailOnline witnessed tense scenes as the search and rescue team of Ankara firefighters crawled into a narrow crevice to try and reach the potential survivors who would have been trapped for more than 200 hours.
There was speculation at the scene that the sound could have been made by one or more of three schoolgirl sisters who were earlier feared to have been crushed to death when their city centre apartment collapsed.
Hopes that they may have somehow survived in their underground tomb rose as it emerged that two brothers where pulled alive from the rubble after being trapped for more than 196 hours elsewhere in Kahramanmaras province.
A team using specialist listening equipment heard the sound of faint tapping as they tunnelled into the ruins
There was speculation at the scene that the sound could have been made by one or more of three schoolgirl sisters
MailOnline witnessed tense scenes as the search and rescue team of Ankara firefighters crawled into a narrow crevice to try and reach the potential survivors
Other rescuers at the scene included a team from Kazakhstan, but they left when the Turkish team appeared to insist that they could handle it themselves
As the official death toll in Turkey and Syria went over 37,000 today, an 18-year-old boy named as Muhammed Cafer was also pulled from a building in Adiyman province.
The teenager was strapped to a stretcher with an oxygen mask on his face and a health worker holding an IV bag as he was carried to a waiting ambulance.
The hopes of finding the girls alive in Kahramanmaras in a St Valentine’s Day miracle emerged this morning after a rescue dog was sent into a tunnel created by the firefighters pulling out debris in the 40ft high pile of rubble and twisted metal.
Excitement mounted as the dog’s handler announced that it had detected signs of human life after many rescue teams had suggested that there remained little hope of finding any more survivors.
The firefighters repeatedly risked their lives as they crawled into the narrow gap, setting up hydraulic props to try and strengthen the opening, although the risk of them being trapped themselves by collapsing rubble remained ever present.
Other rescuers at the scene included a team from Kazakhstan, but they left when the Turkish team appeared to insist that they could handle it themselves.
A yellow ventilation tube was carried into the abyss so that fresh air could be pumped down, as the rescuers passed up yellow buckets of crushed masonry to try and clear a pathway through to the victims.
Crowds watching the rescue attempt were suddenly ordered to stay silent and crouch down for ten minutes to avoid making a sound as rescuers carried down specialist listening equipment to try and hear anything.
As the official death toll in Turkey and Syria went over 37,000 today, an 18-year-old boy named as Muhammed Cafer was also pulled from a building in Adiyman province
The hopes of finding the girls alive in Kahramanmaras in a St Valentine’s Day miracle emerged this morning after a rescue dog was sent into a tunnel created by the firefighters
Excitement mounted as the dog’s handler announced that it had detected signs of human life
A yellow ventilation tube was carried into the abyss so that fresh air could be pumped down
The firefighters repeatedly risked their lives as they crawled into the narrow gap, setting up hydraulic props to try and strengthen the opening
Rescuers twice went into void with the microphones as the sound was only broken by the twittering of sparrows, and the distant beep of horns from lorries involved in rescuers elsewhere.
One rescuer crept in with a loudhailer and shouted out: ‘Can anybody hear me. If you can hear me, tap three times’.
The firefighter emerged and gave a signal saying that he had heard something, leading to hopes rising that someone was alive under the rubble.
As the rescue progressed, bottles of water were seen being passed down into the tunnel, but it appeared that they were to refresh those working underground.
One woman at the scene said: ‘I pray that the girls are safe. If anyone comes out alive it will be a miracle.’
Crowds watching the rescue attempt were suddenly ordered to stay silent and crouch down for ten minutes to avoid making a sound as rescuers carried down specialist listening equipment
Scores of apartment buildings have collapsed in Kahramanmaras and others have been left uninhabitable with gaping holes in them as a result of the 7.8 magnitude earthquake
As the rescue progressed, bottles of water were seen being passed down into the tunnel, but it appeared that they were to refresh those working underground
Scores of apartment buildings have collapsed in Kahramanmaras and others have been left uninhabitable with gaping holes in them as a result of the 7.8 magnitude earthquake.
Local residents believe the area was hit with much greater severity than elsewhere due to it being on a geological fault line.
The area where the girls are feared trapped is on a two acre site of apartment buildings which all collapsed, leaving a scene of horror and devastation.
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