By Mert Ozkan
ANKARA (Reuters) – Mithat Kilisli and his five-month-old granddaughter Zehra spent two and a half days trapped in the rubble together after Turkey’s earthquake before rescuers heard their cries.
Pulled from the wreckage separately, Kilisli faced an agonising three-week wait before being reunited with Zehra, the only other surviving member of his family, who had been taken to a distant hospital.
Kilisli, 69, travelled hundreds of kilometres from their former home in Hatay province to meet her in Ankara. After taking a DNA test to prove their relationship, he took her away with him.
Seeing her again at a children’s home run by Turkey’s Family Ministry, he burst into tears. “You are my life,” he said, kissing her hands. “Thank God I’ve found you.”
Kilisli’s wife, his daughter – Zehra’s mother – his son-in-law and Zehra’s four-year-old brother Yusuf were all killed in the earthquake. “This child has no mother, no father, no grandmother, no one. I am the only one left,” he said.
More than 45,000 people were killed in Turkey, bringing the total earthquake toll, including those killed in Syria, to about 51,000. Millions were left homeless, 108,000 injured and some children found themselves separated from relatives as they were rushed to hospital after being pulled from the rubble.
The Family Ministry said it had found news of 301 children reported missing. For 170 children it had contacted relatives, it was waiting to find relations for 23 more, and 108 of the missing children had died.
“My wound is very deep, but right now I feel as if I have forgotten my pain. God bless everyone. We found baby Zehra,” Kilisli said.
He said Zehra was his first thought when the earthquake woke him. He managed to take her from her crib and find a safe space for them to shelter as the building collapsed around them.
“This poor child constantly cried but also slept for sometime under the rubble,” said Kilisli, cradling her in his lap. Finally rescuers heard him, he saw their search light and explained where he was.
“Save Zehra first, let me die, it is not important as long as Zehra is rescued,” he told them.
They pulled her out first, then Kilisli.
“I thought they were going to keep her outside until I was pulled out too. But as I later found out, someone gave her to AFAD (Turkey’s Disaster Management Authority),” he said.
Emergency workers took Zehra to hospital in the city of Mersin, then to Ankara where her treatment continued.
“I am mourning for your mother, father, grandmother and brother,” he told the baby, sobbing. “Don’t worry. I’ll never leave you, my heart.”
(Reporting by Yesim Dikmen; Writing by Alexandra Hudson; Editing by Janet Lawrence)
