Turkey Earthquake: Baby Girl Pulled Out Alive From Under Debris 91 Hours After Quake

A three-year-old girl was pulled from the rubble of a collapsed building 91 hours after a powerful earthquake hit western Turkey, as the death toll exceeded 100, said the local mayor.

Search that led to the 3-year-old

The child, identified by authorities as 3-year-old as Ayda Gezgin, was rescued on Monday morning, from under the rubble of an apartment building that collapsed in Turkey's coastal city Izmir.

Reuters

¡°We have witnessed a miracle in the 91st hour,¡± Izmir mayor Tunc Soyer tweeted. ¡°¡­ Along with the great pain we have experienced, we have this joy as well.¡±

Rescuer Nusret Aksoy told reporters that he heard a child scream before locating the girl next to a dishwasher. He said Ayda waved at him, told him her name and said that she was OK. Muammer Celik, the firefighter who pulled the girl from the rubble of her home, told CNN that she held tight to his hand until he brought her to safety.

Ayda k?z?m?z?n kurtar?lma an?...

Arama kurtarma ?al??malar?m?z son cana ula?ana kadar aral?ks?z devam edecek. pic.twitter.com/btJ4ppZ0Uk

¡ª A F A D (@AFADBaskanlik) November 3, 2020

President Erdogan calls it "a miracle"

Video from the scene showed an ashen-faced and wide-eyed Ayda, as she was freed from the wreckage of a building.

"Ayda is the name of the miracle," tweeted Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. "Thank you God to give us new hope with your smiley eyes."

Her rescue, which occurred shortly after 10 a.m. local time (2 a.m. ET), was broadcast live on Turkish TV.

Reuters

Emergency workers who had worked tirelessly to rescue her applauded as Ayda -- wrapped in a foil blanket and covered in dust -- was carried through the wreckage and into an ambulance.

Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca shared a video on Twitter, of the girl inside the ambulance amid the sounds of applause and chants of ¡°God is great!¡± from rescue workers and onlookers. In the video shared by Koca, Ayda asks for a traditional Turkish meal.

¡°We¡¯ll get you K?fte and ayran,¡± a man traveling with her replies, using the Turkish for meatballs and a drink made from yoghurt and water.

AP

Koca said on Monday that the 3-year-old had been taken to hospital and was being treated in intensive care. He said she had not sustained any serious fractures or muscle crush injuries and was in good condition.

Quake rattled Turkey

At least 111 people died and 994 were injured after the earthquake -- measured as magnitude-7.0 by the US Geological Survey -- struck in the Aegean Sea on Friday, shaking parts of Greece and Turkey.

The quake struck 14 kilometers northeast of the town of N¨¦on Karlov¨¢sion on Samos, the USGS reported, at a relatively shallow depth of 21 kilometers, making its impact powerfully felt at ground level around the epicenter.

Twitter

Some 20 buildings were seriously damaged in Izmir by the tremor, according to Mayor Tunc Soyer, the majority of them in the middle-class Bayrakli district. More than 900 aftershocks were registered since the initial quake, 42 of them with a magnitude over 4.0, Turkey's disaster agency said. The earthquake also triggered what authorities called a "mini tsunami," causing streets to flood Friday in parts of Turkey's wider Izmir province, as well as on Samos.