Woman Pulled Alive From Quake Rubble
DUZCE, Turkey — More than four days after being buried in rubble by an earthquake, a woman was pulled barely conscious from the remains of her apartment house Wednesday, even as rescuers prepared to end their search for survivors.
Sefa Cebeci, 42, was buried for 105 hours in a mountain of crumbled concrete that was once a six-story building. Discovered by Israeli rescuers and ferried by helicopter to Istanbul, 120 miles to the northwest, she faced amputation of her crushed right arm and was fighting for her life.
“Her condition is still critical due to kidney malfunction,†Dr. Emre Gorgun said by phone from Istanbul.
Despite the miraculous rescue, search teams continued packing up, saying no one else is likely to have survived amid the rain and cold.
At least 547 people were killed in Friday’s 7.2 magnitude quake.
“The estimation is now that they can’t find any more survivors,†said Gilad Cohen, spokesman for the Israeli Embassy in Ankara, the Turkish capital. “The work now is to take out bodies.†He said an Israeli army medical team would stay.
Cebeci was the 22nd person pulled alive from the rubble. Twenty-one people in the complex were killed, including her husband, whose body was found near hers only an hour before her rescue.
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