Turkey earthquake: girl aged 3 rescued after 91 hours

The toddler suffered a similar ordeal to a child rescued on Monday

Rescue workers in Bayrakli, a district in Izmir, search for survivors on Tuesday. A 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck Turkey and Greece on October 29, killing about 100 people and injuring thousands. AFShow more

Rescuers in the Turkish coastal city of Izmir pulled a young girl out alive from the rubble of a collapsed apartment building on Tuesday, four days after a strong earthquake hit Turkey and Greece.

The girl was seen being taken into an ambulance, wrapped in a thermal blanket, amid the sounds of applause and chants of “God is great!” from rescue workers and onlookers.

Media reports identified her as Ayla Gezgin, aged 4. She had been trapped inside the rubble for 91 hours since Friday’s quake struck in the Aegean Sea.

Rescuer Nusret Aksoy told reporters he heard a child scream before locating the girl next to a dishwasher. He said Ayla waved at him, told him her name and said she was OK.

On Monday, girls aged 3 and 14 were pulled out alive from collapsed buildings in Izmir.

Emergency crews retrieved more bodies elsewhere in Turkey’s third-largest city, taking the death toll to 102.

The US Geological Survey rated the quake at 7.0 magnitude, although geologists in Turkey recorded it as being less severe.

Most of the deaths occurred in Izmir, where about 1,000 people were injured.

Two teenagers died and 19 people were hurt on the Greek island of Samos, near the quake’s epicentre in the Aegean Sea.

Officials said 147 survivors were still in hospital, three of whom were in a serious condition.