DESPERATE TO SURVIVE
I was trapped in Turkey earthquake rubble with my newborn son – I saw nothing but darkness and debris for FOUR days
A MUM has told how she saw nothing but darkness and debris for four days after she was buried alive with her newborn baby in Turkey.
Necla Camuz gave birth to her son Yagiz, meaning "brave one", on January 27 - just 10 days before two massive earthquakes devastated her country.
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The disaster has left more than 33,000 people dead in Turkey and Syria after decimating 12 cities - but heroic rescuers are continuing to find survivors.
When the quake struck, Necla, 33, was awake feeding her son at her home on the second floor of a five-storey block in the town of Samandag, Hatay province.
She desperately called out to her husband, but she was soon buried under mountains of rubble with Yagiz lying on her chest after plunging one floor down.
The pair were miraculously saved by a fallen wardrobe which stopped a large slab of concrete from crushing them.
Read more on the earthquake
But they lay trapped for four days before they were finally rescued.
Wearing only her pyjamas, Necla told the she could see nothing but "pitch black" and was "terrified".
She said she kept banging on the wardrobe next to her with pieces of concrete in a desperate bid to be heard by rescue workers.
"You plan lots of things when you have a new baby, and then… all of a sudden you're under rubble," she said.
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Despite being trapped in a tiny pocket of space under a huge mound of debris, Necla said she was still able to breastfeed her baby son.
She even tried to drink her own breast milk to stay alive.
Necla said she didn't think her and her son would make it out of the rubble.
But after more than 90 hours trapped underground, the brave mum said she heard the sound of dogs and voices.
She managed to call out and rescuers dug into the debris to find her.
When Necla finally got the hospital, she was overjoyed to find her husband, Irfan, and her three-year-old son, Yigit Kerim, had also been rescued.
They had been transferred to another hospital with serious injuries to their legs and feet.
Miraculously, Necla and Yagiz suffered no serious injuries.
"I think if my baby hadn't been strong enough to handle this, I wouldn't have been either," she said.
"I'm very happy he's a newborn baby and won't remember anything."
It comes as Prime Minister Rishi Sunak praised Sun readers as our Earthquake Appeal total soared past £1MILLION on Sunday.
It will help the Red Cross’s life-saving work in quake-hit Turkey and Syria — where rescuers are continuing to find survivors.
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Mr Sunak said: “The scale of the devastation in Turkey and Syria after last week’s massive earthquake is hard to comprehend.
“As a dad I find it absolutely heartbreaking to see parents desperately searching for their children in the rubble.
“The Sun’s campaign has raised an incredible £1million for the Red Cross’ life-saving work on the ground, which will make a huge difference to people who have lost everything in the disaster.
“I’d urge anyone who can to support the Sun’s campaign and help to save lives.”
We hit the million-pound mark after a generous donation from pop mogul Simon Cowell, 63, along with pledges from big-hearted Sun readers which continued to pour in over the weekend.
On Sunday night, Turkey’s disaster management authority said 29,605 people had died in their country and 3,574 in Syria, taking total fatalities to 33,179.
Officials and medics added that nearly 6,000 buildings — including hospitals — collapsed in seven Turkish cities.
More than 115 , according to the United Nations.
But incredible rescue workers - including our own firefighters - are still finding survivors.
British firefighters filmed the dramatic moment they pulled a police officer and a woman alive from the rubble.
The footage shows search and rescue specialists in Hatay, in the south of the country, rescuing the man and woman who had been caught under a collapsed multi-storey building for 120 hours.
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Phil Irving, 46, from Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, was part of the team which successfully freed the pair on Saturday.
The dad-of-two said the battle to save them, and their determination to stay alive, “will stay with me”.
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