FOUR DAYS BURIED BENEATH EARTHQUAKE RUBBLE, THIS MOTHER CLUNG TO HER NEWBORN AND REFUSED TO LET GO

A mother recalled surviving four harrowing days trapped beneath the rubble of buildings leveled by the Turkey earthquake — with her 10-day-old baby clinging to her chest.

Necla Camuz, 33, and her newborn, Yagiz — meaning “brave one” — miraculously survived the 7.8-magnitude earthquake on Feb. 6 that left more than 34,000 people dead across Turkey and Syria.

Camuz was breastfeeding Yagiz at 4:17 a.m. inside the family’s second-floor apartment in Hatay province when their home began to shake, she told BBC News.

She said she and her husband — who was holding their 3-year-old son — began walking toward one another from opposite rooms after feeling the tremble, but they were pinned beneath their wardrobe.

“As the earthquake got bigger, the wall fell, the room was shaking, and the building was changing position,” the terrified mom told the outlet. “When it stopped, I didn’t realize that I had fallen one floor down. I shouted their names but there was no answer.”

When the shaking stopped, Camuz found herself lying in the pitch black, struggling to breathe through the dust with her infant cradled against her chest, she recalled.

She said a wardrobe that had fallen next to her prevented a large slab of concrete from crushing her and her baby.

Camuz had to rely on her other senses to figure out her situation in the dark, the BBC reported. She could tell that her baby Yagiz was breathing and she felt his soft skin and clothes on her chest but was unable to shift positions.

She said she heard voices in the distance and began calling out for help.

“Is there anyone there? Can anyone hear me?” she said she shouted as she banged on the wardrobe next to her.

She grabbed small bits of the collapsed building and used them to bang on the wardrobe when she didn’t hear anything back.

No one answered — and she began to realize no one may ever answer, she said.

“I was terrified,” Camuz told the publication.

In the complete darkness and unable to move much, she had no idea what time it was or how many hours had passed.

Her maternal instincts still intact, she focused on keeping her newborn safe — an image much different than how she imagined her son’s first weeks in the world.

“You plan lots of things when you have a new baby, and then … all of a sudden you’re under rubble,” she said.

She was able to move just enough to breastfeed Yagiz but had no access to food or water for herself. In desperation, she tried to drink her own breastmilk but was unsuccessful.

Camuz said he slept most of the time that they were trapped and would occasionally cry — at which point she would feed him until he stopped.

She said she sometimes heard footsteps and voices and could feel what she believed was a drill at points, but the noises felt too far away.

As the hours and days ticked past, she worried about her husband and other son — having watched the dresser come toppling down on them.

Then — after more than 90 hours beneath the debris — Camuz heard dogs barking and wondered if it was a dream.

But then she heard people’s voices, too.

“Are you OK?” one of the voices asked, according to the BBC. “Knock once for yes.”

Rescue teams from the Istanbul Municipality Fire Department carefully dug through the rubble until they reached Camuz and Yagiz.

She handed her newborn to the rescuers and was carried away herself on a stretcher. The pair were rushed to a local hospital via ambulance.

Camuz was relieved to see familiar faces at the hospital — family members who told her husband and older son had also survived the disaster.

They each suffered serious injuries to their legs and feet, however, and were at a hospital hours away, according to the BBC.

Miraculously, Camuz and her little “brave one” had no serious injuries and were released from the hospital after 24 hours of observation.

The mom and son are now living in a makeshift tent with 11 other family members — all of whom lost their homes in the earthquake.

Despite going through the terrifying disaster, Camuz said she is grateful to have had her son with her in the quake’s aftermath.

“I think if my baby hadn’t been strong enough to handle this, I wouldn’t have been either,” she told the outlet.

Source: Nypost

Related Posts

MOM FACED AN IMPOSSIBLE CHOICE AND DELIVERED HER TRIPLETS AT 28 WEEKS TO GIVE HER BABY GIRL

If they continued the pregnancy, their two baby boys could continue growing and developing well before birth, but their baby girl could face a serious risk of not making it.

With the other choice — d…

Bill Lee Refused Mercy on Monday. By Wednesday Night the Drug Had Failed, and He Shut the Calendar Down

The sequence is short enough to memorize, which is why it is so damaging to the idea that Tennessee had this under control.

On September 28, 2026, Governor Bill Lee denied Christa Pike’s clemency peт…

BORN AT JUST 2 POUNDS, LUCA SPENT FIVE MONTHS IN THE NICU BEFORE DOCTORS DISCOVERED WHY HE COULDN’T SAFELY FEED AND NEEDED A G-TUBE

Luca Marshall Realmuto was born on March 2, weighing just two pounds after complications during pregnancy led to his premature arrival.

For the next five months, the tiny boy’s world was the NICU, su…

Aileen Wuornos: From Conviction to exє𝔠uti☉n

Aileen Wuornos remains one of the most widely recognized female serial killers in modern American history.

After confessing to the killings of seven men in Florida between late 1989 and late 1990, sh…

California tech firm illegally snagged millions of Beyoncé, Post Malone tickets in billion-dollar scheme: Feds

A California ticket reseller allegedly snapped up more than $1 billion worth of tickets to Beyoncé, Post Malone and other major concerts and events, making it harder for fans to score seats without pa…

BABY BOY BORN WITH LIMB DIFFERENCES — BUT HIS FAMILY SAYS HE IS PERFECT JUST AS HE IS

When their baby boy arrived on September 10, his parents knew their journey would be different from what they had imagined — but nothing could prepare them for just how much their little son would tea…

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *