Her rescue was particularly dramatic and difficult 20-year-old Turkish girl from Irene who was pulled alive from the rubble two days after the earthquake in Turkey by her men EMAK.
The 20-year-old girl who came out alive after an operation of almost 10 hours under very difficult conditions as the aftershocks were strong and hampered the efforts of the Greek rescuers.
In fact, Irene, according to what was said by the Fire Department’s press representative, Ioannis Artopioos, thanked the Greek mission and even in Greek.
“Irene was freed after a long-hour operation, for more than 10 hours our people were in the wreckage,” Mr. Artophios said initially speaking to SKAI.
“I want to convey an image to you. We have a predetermined time point that we chat with our rescuers. At that moment there was an aftershock, the head came out, all the children from the 1st EMAK tried to avoid the worst”, he added.
“When he re-entered because we had made all the necessary openings to reach the scene, he held the hand of this 20-year-old Turkish woman. I tell him I want to talk to her, he put the phone on speakerphone, held her hand, gave her water and food”, he added and then transferred a very touching image.
“Through her trembling voice she said thank you in broken Greek, she didn’t know English, she said thank you in broken Greek. This picture says it all,” he recounted.
“This is the Greek mission, this is what the Hellenic Fire Brigade does, it builds bridges of friendship, unites daily with the trapped Turks”, he noted.
The sensational rescue operation
The Greek men of EMAK, heard a voice during the investigation in the ruins of the specific building in the city of Hatay that they are operating at around 10:00 in the morning.
From 10:00 in the morning it took almost 9 and a half we heard a voice at a depth of 10-15 meters. What they saw was a mother who, at the onset of the earthquake, hugged her child and died. The mother, the dead baby and Irene somehow ended up together in the same place.
When they selflessly reached a depth of 10-15 meters they saw a shocking image of a mother hugging her child, who unfortunately were dead and next to Irene trapped under a concrete beam, behind the other two dead.
In fact, according to a report by MEGA, which is located in Hatay, the young girl who was under the rubble for over 63 hours was so desperate that she asked the firefighters to amputate her leg in order to be saved.
The EMAK men with surgical movements and with great care slowly cut the beam and managed to free Irene, while a little earlier they proceeded with the macabre action of removing the lifeless body of the child to make room.
The Greek rescuers remained at the scene until they rescued Irene safely, as they did with the other four people they have managed to rescue so far in Hatay.
The second team of EMAK also departed from Thessaloniki
The second EMAK team left from Thessaloniki and will reinforce the Greek mission in the city of Hatay, Turkey, where it is working to retrieve trapped people from the ruins of the buildings that collapsed due to the deadly earthquake.
It is recalled that the reinforcement team of the Greek mission consists of 15 EMAK rescuers, a trained dog and two vehicles, while they are accompanied by three people from the EKAV and an engineer officer from the Fire Brigade.
Together with the second group, the Greek mission will consist of a total of 36 employees of EMAK, 8 doctors and nurses of EKAB, two civil engineering officers, 3 trained dogs, while the president of OASP Efthymios Lekkas also participates in the mission.
