Turkish rescuers find woman, three children under rubble 18 hours after deadly quake

At least 30 people are dead after a 6.6 magnitude quake shook western Turkey and the Greek island of Samos on Friday.

2 min read

31 October, 2020

The woman's fourth child is still trapped [Getty]

Rescue workers pulled a Turkish mother and three children out from under the rubble on Saturday, nearly 24 hours after they were trapped due to a major earthquake that has left 30 dead in Turkey and Greece.

Friday's powerful tremor in the Aegean Sea has taken the highest toll on the southern Turkish province of Izmir, where at least 20 buildings were flattened.

Rescue workers are searching for around 180 people assumed to be trapped under the rubble of collapsed homes and businesses, Reuters reported.

By Saturday afternoon, they had completed rescue operations in eight buildings with nine more to go, officials said.

Around 100 people have been rescued so far, Environment Minister Murat Kurum said.

Among them were a mother and her three children who had been trapped for almost 18 hours.

The woman's fourth child is still under the rubble, with rescue workers continuing efforts to restrieve them.

— Mohammed (@MohamedHemish) October 31, 2020 " style="color:#fff;" class="twitter-post-link" target="_blank">Twitter Post

“Uncle Halim, we will not leave here until we get you out. We are here for you,” says a member of the Turkish rescue team in Izmir just before pulling this man from under the rubble after being trapped for 26 hours following the earthquake. #depremİzmir pic.twitter.com/lwDaesi7Gp
— Mohammed (@MohamedHemish) October 31, 2020

The quake has killed 28 people in Turkey and two people on the Greek island of Samos. Among the dead in Izmir was an elderly woman who drowned in the mini-tsunami that followed the quake.

Another 885 were injured in Turkey, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, adding that 15 are in critical condition.

Another 19 people were injured on Samos, Greek authorities said.

Registering at around a 6.6 magnitude, the earthquake was felt as far away as Bulgaria, as well as in Turkey's largest city, Istanbul, and the Greek capital Athens.

Some of the world's strongest earthquakes have been registered along a fault line that runs across Turkey to Greece.

The latest earthquake will renew fears over when Istanbul might be hit by a big tremor after the devastating 7.4-magnitude one in 1999 in Izmir, western Turkey.

That earthquake killed more than 17,000 people, including 1,000 in Istanbul. Another quake in 2011 in the southeastern province of Van resulted in more than 600 deaths.

This is the second powerful earthquake to hit Turkey this year, after one in the eastern city of Elazig killed more than 30 people in January.

Agencies contributed to this report

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