Young girl pulled alive from Turkey rubble a week after deadly earthquakes

A young girl was pulled from the rubble of a building in Turkey on Monday, a week after devastating earthquakes and aftershocks struck the region, killing over 35,000 people.

The child, named Miray, who was found in Adıyaman, was carried away by rescue workers on a stretcher, video from the scene showed. Government officials said the girl was four years old, but media reports later said she was six years old.

“Don’t stop until you save the last life!” tweeted the official page of Turkish Coal Enterprises, which shared the video of Miray’s rescue.

Experts say the window for saving people trapped under the twisted remains of buildings that collapsed in last week’s earthquakes is nearly closed. The 7.8 and 7.5 quakes reduced huge swathes of the border region between Turkey and Syria to rubble. Freezing temperatures and the amount of time a human can survive without water are among the factors reducing the likelihood of rescues as time goes on. Tens of thousands of bodies have been recovered in the search operations.

Meanwhile on Monday, volunteers mobilized to help the millions of survivors, many of whom have been left homeless. In Turkey’s Hatay province, rescue workers also managed to save a 13-year-old boy named Kaan from under a destroyed building. As he was pulled out into the open air, cheers broke out.