HELL ON EARTH
Harrowing earthquake images show mass graves marked with just numbers as deaths hit 22,000 & Sun readers raise £850k
HAUNTING images show mass graves with numbered headstones in Turkey as the death toll from the massive earthquake reaches 22,000.
The catastrophic quake caused thousands of buildings to collapse as rescuers continue their heroic efforts to find survivors trapped in the rubble.
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Soul-crushing pictures show heartbroken families looking for their loved ones in the mass graves.
Dad Naser al-Wakaa sobbed as he sat on the pile of rubble that would have been his family home after he lost his wife and five children in the disaster.
The high number of casualties has overwhelmed morgues and cemeteries as in some areas bodies lie wrapped in blankets, rugs and tarps.
Meanwhile, in Kahramanmaras, a sports hall served as a makeshift morgue to accommodate and identify bodies.
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Generous Sun readers have now raised £850,000 and Britain will send aid workers to help those whose lives have been shattered by Monday’s destructive 7.8 earthquake.
To donate, visit
Some have miraculously defied the odds and made it out alive, even after spending hours under the wreckage.
Among the survivors was six-year-old Musa Hmeidi who was found alive under the rubble today.
Zeynep Ela Parlak was found under a collapsed building in Hatay this morning after spending 103 under the wreckage.
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Rescuers also found 10-day-old baby Yagiz Ulas, who was pulled out of a collapsed building in Samandag, with his mum after 90 hours.
The newborn was wrapped in a thermal blanket and carried to a field hospital as video showed emergency workers taking away his mum as well.
In Diyarbakir to the east, Sebahat Varli, 32, and her son Serhat were rescued and taken to hospital on Friday morning, 100 hours after the quake.
It comes as....
- Desperate survivors made homeless by the quake are living in freezing conditions after their homes were destroyed.
- Heartbreaking video shows a little girl protecting her brother while stuck under rubble before they’re saved.
- Mystery surrounds the fate of former Premier League star Christian Atsu, who was buried under the rubble, amid conflicting reports.
- Love Island star Belle Hassan and her dad Tamer have lost family in the devastating earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria.
- Fears are growing for an entire school volleyball team trapped under rubble following the catastrophic earthquakes in Turkey.
- Claims Turkey had failed prepare for a quake “for 20 years” and wasted £3.8bn in emergency funds raised with special tax.
- Britain will send up to 100 more aid workers to Turkey to save lives after the devastating earthquake.
- Ex-Dragons’ Den tycoon Theo Paphitis has boosted The Sun’s Earthquake Appeal by £5,000.
The family of 17-year-old Adnan Muhammed Korkut cried tears of joy when the teen was rescued after being trapped in a basement for 94 hours surviving by drinking his own urine.
“Thank God you arrived,” he said, embracing his mother and others who leaned down to kiss and hug him as he was being loaded into an ambulance.
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In the southern city of Hatay, three-year-old Rami was shown in the hands of a rescuer after him and his mum Aya were found after being trapped for 82 hours.
Elsewhere, Haber Turk television said rescuers had identified nine people trapped inside the remains of a high-rise apartment block in Iskenderun and pulled out six of them, including a woman who waved at onlookers as she was being carried away on a stretcher.
Even though experts say trapped people can live for a week or more, the chances of finding survivors are dimming.
Some 12,000 buildings in Turkey have either collapsed or sustained serious damage, according to Turkeys minister of environment and urban planning, Murat Kurum.
SUN READERS RAISE £850K
The Sun’s Earthquake appeal has now hit £850,000 after generous donations from readers and British businesses.
Steve Parkin, a former coal pit miner who set up a “man and van” business in the 1990s and grew to become £1 billion enterprise Clipper Logistics, donated £100,000 to the Sun’s Red Cross fund.
Mr Parkin told The Sun “I’ve seen the harrowing scenes and devastation caused by the earthquake on the Turkey and Syria border and wanted to help in whichever way was possible”.
EG Group, the petrol station empire owned by Zuber and Mohsin Issa, who also own Asda have also pledged £100,000 and a further £25,000 from employees.
Zuber Issa, co-chief executive, said: “EG Group is pleased to support the British Red Cross through The Sun’s Earthquake Appeal following the devastation caused by the recent earthquakes in Turkey and Syria.
"EG’s Foundation and Corporate Social Responsibility colleagues are also organising additional fundraising events and activities in the Blackburn head office and across our extensive UK site network to supplement the company donation.
"Our hearts go out to all those affected by the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, and we hope they receive all the support they need from the international community in their time of need.”
Ocado Group, the grocery technology business, is also giving £25,000 to The Sun’s appeal.
It is estimated the deadliest quake in the region in over two decades has so far cost the lives of 22,000 across southern Turkey and northwest Syria four days after it hit.
Officials suggest the death toll in Turkey rose to 19,388 on Friday while more than 3,300 have been killed in Syria.
Many more people remain under the rubble.
Some 24.4 million people in Syria and Turkey have been affected, according to Turkish officials and the United Nations, in an area spanning roughly 280 miles from Adana in the west to Diyarbakir in the east.
In Syria, people were killed as far south as Hama, 250 km from the epicentre.
The UK has now pledged will send up to 100 more aid workers to Turkey to save lives after the devastating earthquake.
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Our aid teams will set up a field hospital with its own operating theatre and ward to treat casualties on the ground.
And the Defence and Foreign Secretaries have given the green light for a C130 Hercules plane to fly over to transport critically injured people out of the worst affected areas as soon as possible.
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