WATCH | Elderly woman rescued alive from rubble eight days after quake in Turkey

Members of Gift of the Givers, SAPS K9 units and fellow Omani searchers recovered an elderly woman alive on Monday from piles of rubble at Antakya Merkez (in Turkey’s Hatay province) eight days after the devastating earthquake.

Gift of the Givers founder Dr Imtiaz Sooliman broke the news in a voice note.

“Such an issue requires a collaborative effort. Grit, determination, resilience, hope, fate, professionalism, technical equipment and, above all, sniffer dogs,” Sooliman said.

He congratulated not only Gift of the Givers searchers but also volunteers from Oman and members of the SAPS K9 unit.

“By bringing in the SAPS K9 sniffer dogs, Gift of the Givers, together with the Omani team, located a live elderly person in the rubble in Hatai a few minutes ago.

“The person has been recovered and sent by ambulance to hospital,” he said.

While the search goes on, Sooliman congratulated searchers on their selfless efforts.

“Congratulations to the team, by pulling out somebody alive several days after the earthquake.

Gift of the Givers had a similar experience during their search and rescue efforts in Haiti, pulling out 64-year-old Ela Zizi eight days after the earthquake in a collapsed catholic church, Sooliman said.

“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 to make this miracle happen.”

This after the death toll has risen to more than 36,000  after two earthquakes with a magnitude of almost eight each on the Richter scale struck in south-eastern Turkey and northern Syria on February 6.

“We are hopeful that some more live people will be in the same building. This is an area that nobody had discovered, nobody had reached, nobody had done. Together with the Omani team, Gift of the Givers and all its members, its partner members reached and this miracle happened this morning,” Sooliman said.