More than a week after an earthquake struck parts of Türkiye and Syria, an 80-year-old woman was pulled from the rubble by search and rescue teams. This is thanks to a SAPS K9 flown up alongside additional rescue teams to assist with rescue and recovery operations in the ravaged regions.
The woman was found in an area that, according to the Gift of the Givers, no other rescue team had searched.
On Monday, teams rescued the elderly woman in the Hatay area.
Dr Imtiaz Sooliman of Gift of the Givers said the woman was sent via ambulance to hospital.
"By bringing in the SAPS K9 sniffer dogs, Gift of Givers, together with the Omani team, located the elderly person in the rubble. Congratulations to the team for pulling someone out alive several days after the earthquake," he said.
Sooliman said search and rescue requires a collaborative effort, grit, determination, resilience, hope, faith, professionalism, technical equipment, and above all, sniffer dogs.
He recalled a similar rescue operation in Haiti, where 64-year-old Ena Zizi was pulled from the rubble of a collapsed Catholic church after being trapped without food or water for eight days in 2010.
“When we work together as a common humanity for the purpose of human beings, there is always success. Once again, thanks to all the teams involved who made the miracle happen. We are hopeful that some more live persons will be in the same building,” he said.
IOL