Spanish Marines have participated in the rescue of a 7-year-old boy who has managed to survive for five days under the rubble of one of the buildings destroyed by the earthquake in Turkey. The rescue has been carried out throughout this Friday and Saturday morning with the participation of the Spanish infantrymen, although the final extraction has been carried out by a Turkish team, according to sources from the Ministry of Defense.
"The situation was a bit chaotic since it was the fifth day after the earthquake and the chances of finding someone alive decreased drastically," said Marine Infantry Lieutenant Manuel González Baiges, from the 7th Company of the Second Battalion of Landing.
The infantry was helping to remove rubble and clean one of the buildings in the downtown area of Iskenderun when the unthinkable happened. "After one of the singular silences that were made in search of some sign of life, a sound was heard," says the lieutenant. This one was identified by the Turkish team. "We are the rescue team if someone hears me scream, if you can't give three knocks around them," the Turks said. So, the rescue teams were able to save this child who was in the rubble: "It took about 20 minutes to reach that little life that gave a thread of hope to all of us who were in the place."
The Spanish teams decided to withdraw and make room for the Turks: "We decided to move aside and make way for the rescue team out of respect for the relatives, just as we did when the victims withdrew," says the Spaniard. "Applause broke the silence reaffirming what we believed: we had found a survivor."
The Spanish Navy ships Juan Carlos I and Galicia left last Monday in the direction of the area affected by the earthquake in Turkey to help in the work of rescuing people, in addition to two planes, one from the Military Emergency Unit (UME ) and another with firefighters from the Community of Madrid.
