Watch: ‘Miracle’ as little girl pulled from earthquake rubble after 91 hours

A three-year-old girl was pulled Tuesday from rubble 91 hours after a powerful earthquake hit western Turkey, offering a ray of hope for grieving families as the death toll soared past 100.

Rescuers and families have been riding waves of emotion, from profound grief to elated relief, depending on whether bodies or survivors were extracted from the broken slabs of apartment buildings levelled by Friday’s powerful 7.0-magnitude quake.

The shaking — felt from Istanbul to Athens — killed two teenagers on their way home from school on the Greek island of Samos, where a mini-tsunami levelled homes.

But most of the damage struck in and around Turkey’s Aegean resort city of Izmir, where the death toll reached 105 on Tuesday.

None of the Turkish coastal towns were hit harder than Bayrakli, a residential district dotted with seven- and eight-floor apartment buildings, dozens of which were either damaged or completely destroyed.

Rescuers, exhausted but determined on their fourth day of round-the-clock work, were zeroing in Tuesday on four buildings, supported by drones surveying the scene.

Video shows the rescue of a child who was found alive in the rubble of a collapsed apartment building nearly three days after an earthquake hit Izmir, Turkey. https://t.co/Pei4GuIXut pic.twitter.com/EYBMZzGwRU

— CNN (@CNN) November 2, 2020

They broke out in cheers, applause and shouts of “Allahu Akbar”, or “God is Greater”, the moment they realised they had rescued a little girl called Ayda Gezgin.

“We have witnessed a miracle in the 91st hour,” Izmir mayor Tunc Soyer tweeted.

“The miracle’s name is Ayda,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan tweeted moments later.

“With your smiling eyes, you have inspired new hope for us. Thank God. Get well soon, my lovely little one,” the Turkish leader wrote.

– ‘So happy’ –

In the initial confusion, Turkish officials said the girl was four years old, before realising she was only three.

She called for her mother as she was taken to a waiting ambulance in a golden foil blanket, an AFP correspondent at the scene said.

Anxious relatives and survivors, many of them spending cold night in tents a safe distance away from the ruins, broke into rapturous applause, some hugging each other and others crying.

“I asked her: Are you okay? I was curious to see if she was alright. She asked for ayran,” said rescue worker Ahmet Celik, referring to the salty yoghurt drink.

“I told her the ayran would come later,” he told AFP, laughing. “She loves ayran.”

Rescuers said they realised someone was still alive at the site on Monday night, before painstakingly working to reach her.

“It was a child’s, a female voice,” said fellow rescue worker Ibrahim Topal. “My friend Ahmet saw the hand, and when we opened (the space) a bit more, Ayda’s face.”

Topal said the girl was discovered in the kitchen, in a small space created by the oven and other white goods.

“From the moment we heard her sound, it didn’t matter how tired we were. It gave us energy again,” he told AFP. “We were so happy.”

The rescue came a day after a four-year-old and a 14-year-old were found alive in the same district, providing encouragement to rescue workers, despite persistent fears of aftershocks.

Turkey has reported nearly 1,500 repeat tremors following the quake, including 44 that were above four in magnitude.

Friday’s quake was the deadliest in Turkey this year, after over 40 people were killed in the eastern provinces of Elazig and Malatya in January.

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