Heartwarming pictures show 16 babies pulled from the Turkish earthquake rubble being flown to safety - By Gemma Parry - Daily Mail - 1 day ago Babies who were found alone in the aftermath of the earthquake s that rocked Turkey and Syria and claimed the lives of thousands have been safely transported to Ankara. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's plane was used to carry 16 babies from Kahramanmaras to the Turkish capital following the devastating 7.8 and 7.5-magnitude tremors on Monday. The plane has been put on standby to be used for earthquake-related activities including carrying medical teams and aid to regions of the country.
It is also being used to transport critically injured people to Ankara for treatment.
All 16 babies on board the flight were found alone in the earthquake zones. They were collected by the foster mothers of the Ministry of Family and Social Services from the plane which landed at Esenboga Airport.
From there, they were taken to Etlik City Hospital.
Heartwarming images show the infants in the arms of rescuers on board the plane, wrapped in blankets amid a cold snap in the country.
The pictures show people huddled together on the flight cradling the infants, many of whom are asleep, as they are transported to safety.
The babies, who are believed to be unharmed, will now be taken into care in the children's organisation affiliated with the Ministry of Family and Social Services.
Two of the babies were removed from debris caused by the earthquake, meaning that they have yet to be identified.
The other 14 were being treated at hospitals in Kahramanmaras at the time of the quake but authorities are as yet unable to reach their families.
The Turkish President's wife Emine Erdogan visited the babies at Etlik City Hospital on Wednesday.
Official figures released yesterday confirmed the deaths of at least 3,500 people during the two quakes.
The earthquakes were felt in many countries across the Middle East, with Turkey and its war-torn southern neighbour Syria the worst affected.
Thousands of people in both countries are known to have been killed. In Turkey entire apartment blocks crashed to the ground in a matter of seconds following the quakes, trapping families inside and killing thousands.
The United States Geological Survey has recorded more than 60 earthquakes and aftershocks in the region in the last 24 hours. Countries from across the world have offered aid, with rescue workers from Europe, Asia and the Americas all flying in to help the efforts of the emergency services.
Turkey's president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has declared seven days of national mourning, while buildings in Israel and Bosnia have been lit up in memory of those who have died.
The initial 7.8-magnitude night-time tremor, followed hours later by a slightly smaller one, wiped out entire sections of major Turkish cities in a region filled with millions of people who have fled the civil war in Syria and other conflicts.
The later 7.5-magnitude quake struck at 1.24pm (10.24 GMT) two and a half miles southeast of the town of Ekinozu and around 60 miles north of the first quake that wrought devastation across Turkey and Syria .
The US Geological Survey warned that fatalities from the quakes could reach 10,000.
Turkey is in one of the world's most active earthquake zones, sitting in a fault line.
The Turkish region of Duzce suffered a 7.4-magnitude earthquake in 1999 - the worst to hit Turkey in decades.
That quake killed more than 17,000 people, including about 1,000 in Istanbul.
Experts have long warned a large quake could devastate Istanbul, which has allowed widespread building without safety precautions.
A magnitude-6.8 quake hit Elazig in January 2020, killing more than 40 people.
And in October that year, a magnitude-7.0 quake hit Turkey's Aegean coast, killing 114 people and wounding more than 1,000.
The last 7.8-magnitude tremor shook Turkey in 1939, when 33,000 died in the eastern province of Erzincan.
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