They rescued two children buried in Turkey for 84 hours

Rescue workers yesterday rescued two brothers, ages five and 11, who were trapped in the rubble of a building in southeastern Turkey for 84 hours.

Both children have been hospitalized and are undergoing medical tests, NTV reported Thursday.

Rescue workers from Kahramanmaraş province first heard the sounds and then focused on the collapsed building where the brothers were buried.

Three more people, who had been trapped under rubble for 84 hours in Hatay, were rescued alive. The rescued include two children, 12-year-old Mahir and eight-year-old Hilal, who survived more than 80 hours under the rubble. The mother was with them, and she was heard to say, First release her children. No word on whether the mother was rescued.

Rescue workers are currently doing their best, with experts warning that hopes of finding more survivors are fading after 72 hours.

DAM CHALLENGE. Many residents of Tlul in northwestern Syria left their town yesterday, which was submerged when an earthen dam collapsed following the earthquake that shook the region. In this town in the north of Idlib, close to the Turkish border, some houses were flooded, the trunks of fruit trees and wheat and bean fields were completely submerged. The streets of the city were also flooded due to the collapse of the dam built on a branch of the Orontes River bordering the city. “Our situation is dramatic. Look at the water around us,” says Luan Husein Hamadeh, one of the few residents still living in the village.

EARTHQUAKE LOSSES. Financial rating agency Fitch said in a statement yesterday that earthquake-related economic losses in Turkey and Syria could exceed $2 trillion and more than $4 trillion. In a statement, Fitch stressed that the two countries will face human tragedies, but also economic losses that are difficult to predict as the situation changes.

“They should exceed $2 billion and they can reach $4 billion or more,” the rating agency said.

However, Fitch explains that the sums insured are significantly lower due to lower insurance coverage in the affected areas.

HUMAN HELP. A first aid convoy to earthquake-hit rebel areas in northwestern Syria crossed the Bab al Hawa pass on the Turkish border yesterday, an official on duty said.

“The first UN aid convoy arrived today,” said Mazen Alloush, spokesman for the border post. Alloush said the convoy was planned before the devastating earthquake that hit Syria and Turkey on Monday.