Elderly among survivors rescued nine days after Türkiye earthquakes

Miracles continue as more survivors have been pulled alive from the rubble nine days after strong earthquakes hit southeastern Türkiye.

First responders pulled Fatma Gungor, a 77-year-old woman, alive from the rubble in southeastern Adiyaman province late on Tuesday, some 212 hours after "Disaster of the Century" struck parts of Türkiye and Syria. 

"I'm so excited, I don't know what to say. We almost got to the point of giving up," a rescuer at the site told local media and public broadcaster TRT Haber, which has been broadcasting visuals of the rescue missions since last week. 

"We didn't even eat. Thank God it has ended well. I thank both Kocaeli Golcuk Shipyard [workers] and AFAD [rescue team]. So glad we have you."

Earlier on Tuesday, a father and his daughter were rescued some 209 hours after the tragedy in hard-hit Hatay province.

Ramazan Yucel, 45, was rescued from the rubble 207 hours after the earthquake in Adiyaman. 

Two brothers, Baki Yeninar, 21, and Muhammed Enes Yeninar, 17, were rescued in the province of Kahramanmaras, where the quakes were centred, almost 200 hours later.

Baki said he held onto life by drinking a protein shake.

Muhammed Cafer Cetin, 18, was also rescued in Adiyaman province 198 hours after the quakes.

Miner Ilyas Gunes, who rescued Cetin, said that they had spoken about things like the layout of the house, where its rooms are, where they slept, and the floor they lived on. They also tried to figure out where everyone might have been when the quake struck.

"We thought maybe they were watching TV in the living room," said Gunes, adding that Cetin later told them that he had been playing a video game.

"While we were scooping the debris under our feet with an excavator, a hole opened over there and suddenly we heard a voice saying, 'I'm here'."

READ MORE: Live updates: Over 8,000 pulled alive since last week quakes - Erdogan

'Now all our exhaustion is gone'

The first thing Cetin asked for after being rescued was water and a hot meal, he added.

"We’re very happy right now. This has given us a wonderful, wonderful happiness after seven or eight days, and now all our exhaustion is gone."

A woman was rescued from under the rubble 201 hours after the earthquakes in Hatay province. Emine Akgul, 26, was saved by miners and other search and rescue teams in the Antakya district.

Muna Dabul, a foreign national, was rescued from under the rubble 204 hours after the earthquakes in Hatay and taken to the hospital.

READ MORE: Erdogan thanks all countries helping in post-quake rescue efforts

Ten provinces affected

Over 35,418 people died in the two strong earthquakes that jolted southern Türkiye on February 6. More than 105,505 others were injured.

The magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 quakes, centred in the Kahramanmaras province, affected more than 13 million people across 10 provinces, including Hatay, Gaziantep, Adiyaman, Malatya, Adana, Diyarbakir, Kilis, Osmaniye, and Sanliurfa.

Several countries in the region, including Syria and Lebanon, also felt the strong tremors that struck Türkiye in the space of less than 10 hours.

READ MORE: Türkiye quakes Europe's worst natural disaster in a century: WHO