Cape Town - A week after two earthquakes struck Türkiye, Gift of the Givers, together with the Omani team, found an 80-year-old woman alive and were grateful to have the South African Police’s K-9 unit dogs with them.
Gift of the Givers Chairperson and founder, Dr Imtiaz Sooilman, made the announcement shortly after 12pm today.
The person is said to be an 80-year-old woman.
The good news could not have come at a better time for the team, who experienced a heart-wrenching weekend, finding bodies under the rubble, and in one particular case, that of a mother and a 16-year-old girl who were discovered hugging one another.
The search and rescue teams have been equipped with the South African Police canines, which have become a great asset.
The dogs, together with teams, were in Hatay when they made the miraculous discovery.
Details of the rescued person are yet to be released.
“Search and rescue requires a collaborative effort, grit, determination, resilience, hope, faith, professionalism, technical equipment, and above all, sniffer dogs.
“By bringing in SAPS canine sniffer dogs, Gift of the Givers, together with the Omani team, a live elderly person was located in the rubble in Hatay a few minutes ago,” Sooliman said.
He said the person had been taken to hospital.
“Congratulations to the team, by pulling out somebody alive, several days after the earthquake. Gift of the Givers had a similar experience on day eight in Hatay, pulling out a 64-year-old eight days after the earthquake in the collapsed Catholic church.
“When we work together, as a common humanity, for the purpose of human beings, there is always success.
“Once again, thanks again to all the teams involved to make this miracle happen. We are hopeful that some more live persons will be in the same building. This is an area no one had reached. Nobody had done.”
Sooliman said his team were experiencing the reality of the situation by finding those who did not make it alive.
But they continued, not giving up hope: “The canine dogs were incredible, sadly every area they were going, the scent is picking up hundreds buried within the rubble, the death toll is certainly far higher than the 30 000 stated thus far, may bodies will not be able to be recovered from the building, the buildings are very unstable, and have totally collapsed in an area populated with 15 million.
“Our teams yesterday (Saturday) retrieved four bodies, two adults and a child.
“Today (Sunday), they retrieved a mother and a 16-year-old daughter. The mother and daughter were hugging each other. When they took them out, they found them in that position.
“These kinds of pictures have an emotional and psychological effect on rescue teams, who see the pain and the suffering.
“The stench of decomposition is now starting to increase, and you realise the tragedy is far bigger than anyone understood.
“In the meantime, the teams are still going from site to site, hoping.”
Last week, Turkish Ambassador to South Africa, Aysegul Kandas, told Weekend Argus that South Africa was one of the first countries to respond to Türkiye’s plea for international help.
The earthquakes hit both Türkiye and Syria just after 4am on February 7.