German rescue teams have rescued a woman from the rubble of a collapsed house in the Turkish town of Kirikhan more than 100 hours after the devastating earthquake. The teams from I.S.A.R. Germany, I.S.A.R. Turkey and BRH Bundesverband Rettungshunde worked for over 50 hours to free the buried victim from the rubble.
"The situation was very complicated," says incident commander Steven Bayer, describing the situation. "The woman was lying several metres below the surface. To get to her, our teams had to break through concrete ceilings and remove a lot of rubble. The rescue was also complicated because access to the buried victim was only possible via very narrow paths."
Over the last few hours, the rescuers had worked their way centimetre by centimetre to the woman. Fortunately, they had already been able to create a small supply channel to the buried victim. This allowed them to communicate with the woman and supply her with water via a hose.
After being rescued, the woman was immediately given medical treatment by the I.S.A.R. team. She is doing well under the circumstances. "The team really gave their all and worked tirelessly to save the woman. Everyone here at the scene is very happy about the rescue and deeply impressed by the woman's strength," says incident commander Steven Bayer.
I.S.A.R. Germany Managing Director Michael Lesmeister and BRH President Jürgen Schart thanked their team members for their hard work. "We are proud of our team. Each and every one of them has put in countless hours of education and training to prepare for exactly this kind of situation. The largely voluntary commitment has paid off here," said Lesmeister and Schart.
