After 23 days under the rubble, a dog named ‘Alex’ was rescued on Wednesday in Hatay’s Antakya region. Rescue efforts are still ongoing nearly a month after catastrophic earthquakes rocked Turkey. The municipality workers were going about their business when they heard the dog whimpering from the debris of the collapsed buildings.
Rescue crews arrived on the scene shortly and found the dog. However, retrieving Alex, who was trapped deep within the wreckage, took over 1.5 hours. When the staff rescued the tiny husky, he appeared joyful and even wagged his tail a little.
The crew fed and watered Alex before handing him over to members of the Animal Rights Federation (HAYTAP). A video taken following the rescue effort showed Alex receiving numerous head scratches and pets from onlookers.
The gang later transported the dog, who was in poor health due to his weight loss, to Antakya for treatment and rehabilitation.
This is not the first time a miraculous rescue has been reported from earthquake-ravaged areas. Last month, a guy was retrieved from deep under the debris, about 278 hours or 12 days after being stuck by it.
The man, named Hakan Yasinoglu, was also discovered in Hatay, a province on the Syrian border that was one of the most hit by the earthquake.
Yasinoglu was brought out on a stretcher with an IV drip attached to him and was Wrapped in a golden thermal jacket. According to rescue workers, Yasinoglu’s survival was a miracle because the temperature drops to near zero degrees Celsius at night, making survival practically impossible without little heat.
One of the most devastating earthquakes in recent memory has shaken Turkey and Syria, killing over 50,000 people.