Hope still prevails as more survivors pulled out of earthquake rubble in Türkiye's southern region

More people were pulled out of the rubble of collapsed buildings on Saturday as rescue teams from around the world race against time to save lives in the wake of Monday's powerful earthquakes in southern Türkiye. Şengül Karabacak, 4 years old, and her father were pulled out of the rubble in the Islahiye district of Gaziantep some 132 hours after the quakes hit the region. Irem Bağriaçik, a 7-year-old girl, was also rescued in Belen in the Hatay province after days under the rubble. A day earlier her mother Halime, 27, was rescued from the same building. Rescue teams also recovered the bodies of her two siblings. Four people including one child were rescued from the rubble after 129 hours in the Nurdaği district of the Gaziantep province. Rescue teams also pulled a woman out from the rubble in Nurdagi. In the Adiyaman province, rescue squads pulled out Zeliha, a 10-year-old girl, from rubble after 128 hours. Rescue teams also saved 72-year-old Kazim Kaya from the collapse of a building in Adiyaman after days in the debris. Two young siblings, 12-year-old Suad and 14-year-old Sabah Habbas, as well as their uncle Muhammed were rescued from the rubble in the Hatay province 128 hours after the quakes. Sixteen-year-old Kamilcan Ağdaş was also rescued in Kahramanmaraş after 119 hours. In the same province, Ayse, a 6-year-old girl, was also rescued by Turkish and Azerbaijani teams after 129 hours. Ümit Gülçicek, a woman believed to be in her sixties, was also rescued by Turkish and Korean teams in the Antakya District of Hatay days after the quakes. Kamil, a 16-year-old boy, was also pulled out of the rubble after he was stuck under the debris for 116 hours in Kahramanmaraş by Kyrgyzstani teams in Turkiye with a 63-strong team and two sniffer dogs. A baby believed to be 2 months old was saved alive in the Hatay province after being trapped under the debris for 128 hours. In the Adiyaman province, Specialist Sgt. Osman Gürbüz and his wife Ümmü Gürbüz were rescued from the rubble after they survived for 128 hours under concrete blocks of collapsed buildings. Rescue teams also recovered the bodies of their three children. Also in Adiyaman, a young girl named Rumeysa was rescued 128 hours after the earthquake. Arda Can Övün, 13, was also rescued in Hatay 128 hours after the first tremor hit the region. A little girl, age 6, was found alive under the debris after 137 hours in the Antakya district of Hatay. Miners pulled out a 5-month-old baby alive from a collapsed building after 131 hours, also in Antakya. In Kahramanmaras, rescue teams from Azerbaijan pulled out a 50-year-old woman named Fatma from the debris of a collapsed building 120 hours after the quakes hit. In the Elbistan district of Kahramanmaraş, thanks to a 12-hour rescue operation, Melisa Ulku, age 24, was found alive after spending 133 hours under the rubble. Sabiha Güngoren, 74, and her husband were also rescued from the rubble in Hatay on the sixth day since the earthquake. Rescue teams also pulled out Asya, a 2-year-old girl, from the quake debris in Hatay. Meanwhile, Turkish miners from the Black Sea province of Zonguldak saved 83-year-old Halime Gürbüz in Kahramanmaraş after more than 124 hours in the rubble. Menekşe Tabak, a 70-year-old woman, was rescued after she was trapped under the debris for 122 hours in the province of Kahramanmaras, the epicenter of the twin earthquakes that shook southern Türkiye earlier this week. Maşallah Çiçek, 55, was rescued in the province of Diyarbakir after she survived under the rubble of a building where she had been trapped for 122 hours. After being trapped under quake rubble for 136 hours, Sevgi Çolak, 45, was pulled out alive in Adiyaman. In Adiyaman, thanks to rescue efforts by teams from Pakistan, Vietnam, and Türkiye, Abuzer Baran Bakir, age 17, was rescued from the wreckage after 138 hours. In the Islahiye district of Gaziantep, Güler Güler, 63, was dug out 133 hours after the quake. Also, rescuers brought out a young man named Umut, age 14, from a destroyed building in Kahramanmaraş six days after the quake. Turkish and Korean teams rescued Bekir Doğu, aged 17, who was stuck under the debris of his home for 136 hours in the Hatay province. In Kahramanmaraş, a couple was saved from building wreckage along with their son after 138 hours. Another couple, Abdulkerim and Sena Nanu, were rescued from the debris of a four-story building in Kahramanmaraş after 138 hours under the rubble In Hatay, 7-year-old Isra Tehalmi and Macide Hakemati, 57, were taken out of building debris in separate rescue operations after days trapped. Many of the dramatic rescues were shown on live television. At least 24,617 people died and 80,278 others were injured in two strong earthquakes that jolted southern Türkiye on Monday, the AFAD said in a statement on Saturday. Speaking to the media, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said: 'Healthcare services are being provided with no letup in all our provinces.' Saying that there are enough healthcare personnel on the ground, Koca called on health volunteers to not 'move outside of the planning of the provincial health directorate so as not to cause chaos.' More than 166,000 search and rescue personnel are currently working in the field, according to an earlier Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD) statement. Almost 92,700 people have been evacuated from quake-hit regions so far, AFAD said. In a media briefing, AFAD's Orhan Tatar said the 7.7 magnitude earthquake released energy as powerful as 500 atomic bombs. Tatar also dismissed the social media claims of volcanic activity in southern Kahramanmaraş' Göksu district after the powerful earthquakes, saying that 'there is no lava flow, volcanic ash, oil or gas emission in the region.' He added: 'According to our observations, the incident (in Goksu) is nothing more than a simple mass movement triggered by the earthquake and that we see very often after tremors.' In earlier remarks on Friday, Erdoğan said the history of Türkiye is challenged by some of the biggest disasters, referring to the quakes in the country's southern provinces. Also on Thursday, Erdoğan said the quakes in southern Türkiye can be described as the 'disaster of the century,' adding that the state has mobilized all its means to help the victims. The magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 earthquakes, centered in Kahramanmaras, affected more than 13 million people across 10 provinces, also including Adana, Adiyaman, Diyarbakir, Gaziantep, Hatay, Kilis, Malatya, Osmaniye, and Sanliurfa. Several countries in the region, including Syria and Lebanon, felt the strong tremors that struck Türkiye in the space of fewer than 10 hours.