Over 46,000 people have lost their lives so far in the deadly earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, but hope for survivors is not fading as more trapped people are rescued from the rubble. The death toll from the earthquakes that struck on Monday, February 6, has risen to 40,642 in Turkey, the head of Turkey’s AFAD disaster agency, Yunus Sezer, said on Saturday. At least 6,000 people have been killed and more than 14,749 injured in Syria.

Three people, including a 12-year-old child, were pulled alive from the rubble of a building in Antioch, Hatay province, southern Turkey, 296 hours after the 7.8-magnitude earthquake. Unfortunately, the 12-year-old ended up in the ambulance minutes after being rescued.

The earthquakes hit 11 provinces in Turkey, home to more than 13 million people, and devastated large areas of northwestern Syria.

His first request was water… Watch the moment a Syrian citizen was rescued after 13 days of being under the rubble in #Antakya. pic.twitter.com/mt8u6acVl9

— Oriannalyla 🇺🇦 (@Lyla_lilas) February 18, 2023

The other two who were pulled from the rubble 13 days after the devastating earthquake were hospitalized. As it became known to survive they ate soil, flowers and insects.

Earthquake in Turkey: three people rescued after 296 hours under the rubble

In the district of Antakya, the center of the province of Hatay. https://t.co/xBXH8FImVf pic.twitter.com/kjMS4xAAUG

— ANADOLU AGENCY (FR) (@aa_french) February 18, 2023

According to the information published by the Turkish media, the rescued are a 49-year-old Syrian man and his 40-year-old wife, who were taken to hospitals.

Yesterday, Friday, in the evening, another survivor, a 45-year-old man, was pulled from the ruins 278 hours after the earthquake, in the province of Hatay, in which Antioch is located, which suffered great damage from the earthquake.

The chances of survivors now appear slimmer around the epicenter further north, in mountainous areas such as Kahramanmaras, and even in snow-covered areas such as Elbistan and Antiyaman, where the thermometer fell overnight as -15 degrees Celsius, according to AFP teams.