Turkey-Syria quake: As death toll crosses 23,000, infant found alive in collapsed building

A number of small children were rescued from rubble by rescue crews searching for survivors on the fifth day after a major earthquake struck Turkey and neighbouring Syria, killing more than 23,000 people.

The 10-day-old newborn survived four days with her mother in the collapsed building.
The 10-day-old newborn survived four days with her mother in the collapsed building. Photo courtesy: Twitter/@ekrem_imamoglu

Turkish baby Yagiz Ulas and her mother were rescued by rescue workers and carried to a field medical centre in Samandag, Hatay province, yesterday. Video images from Turkey's disaster agency showed the baby and her mother were dazed but conscious.

Rescuers, including specialist teams from dozens of countries, toiled through the night in the ruins of thousands of wrecked buildings. In freezing temperatures, they regularly called for silence as they listened for any sound of life from mangled concrete mounds.

And across the border in Syria, rescuers from the White Helmets group used bare hands to dig through plaster and cement until reaching the bare foot of a young girl, wearing pink pajamas now grimy from days trapped, but alive and free at last.

Up to 5.3 million people in Syria may have been made homeless by the devastating earthquake which rocked the region this week, a United Nations official said.