Rescue mission of Belarusian special detachment "ZUBR" continues in Turkey

Unfortunately, good news in the areas affected by the earthquake come less and less often. Too much time has passed, so there is less and less chance of saving people. By this point, our specialists alone have recovered more than two dozen bodies from under the rubble.

Rescuers will continue their mission as long as there is even the slightest chance of rescuing people. Our crew has been in the Republic of Turkey all the week.

The Belarusian rescuers went to their first work assignment immediately after arrival. At night, a group of Evgeny Vysotsky began searching for the victims at the site of their deployment. The specialists worked on the information of their Turkish colleagues. They knew that there was a living person under the ruins. Three hours later the special "ZUBR" squad managed to get a woman out from under the rubble.

Evgeny Vysotsky, duty officer of ZUBR, Ministry of Emergencies of Belarus:

“Within three hours they extracted the victim from under the rubble. She had been there for about three days. She was exhausted, she had hypothermia, she was very thirsty.”

The work of Belarusian rescuers began in one of the most destroyed areas of the city, on the third floor of the dormitory, or rather what was left of it.

The Belarusian specialists expressed their desire to work 24/7. These days, when one can still rescue someone from under the rubble, every minute counts. So they worked during the day in the city center, saving two women for an hour, and at night in the sleeping areas. By the way, our compatriot lived in this very house. The special squad ZUBR worked there as hard as they could, but, unfortunately, both the Belarusian woman and her family were found dead.

In these last days and nights, when it is still possible to find people alive, the rescue work does not stop for a minute, working 24/7. At about 2 am Belarusian guys from the special unit "ZUBR" are working here leading the searches. And so they work till the morning, when a new group with new forces arrives for their shift.

And the locals watch what is going on nearby. Someone has lost his home, someone has come in hope that his relative will be brought alive from under the rubble. There is hope and pain in their eyes. Throughout the night, they burn fires here and don't go home, even those who still have a place to live are afraid.

"I don't want to go home," says a local resident, "because the house may collapse, maybe it cracks, or maybe another earthquake will start.