Bangladeshi rescue team starts operation in Turkey

A joint rescue team of Bangladesh has hit the ground running as part of the rescue effort in Turkey following Monday's earthquake, one of the deadliest tremors witnessed anywhere in the world over decades, reports UNB.

The Bangladesh team already rescued a 17-year-old girl alive and recovered 3 dead bodies, said deputy assistant director of Fire Service and civil defense headquarters media cell Shahjahan Sikder.

The team consisting of 34 members from the army and 12 from the Fire Service left Dhaka on Wednesday 10:00pm and reached Adana Military Air Base on Thursday 9:46pm. Later, they reached Adiaman city and started search and rescue operations, added the officer.

According to reports, rescuers pulled several people alive from the shattered remnants of buildings on Friday, some who survived more than 100 hours trapped under crushed concrete in the bitter cold after a catastrophic earthquake slammed Turkey and Syria, killing more than 23,000.

The survivors included six relatives who huddled in a small pocket under the rubble, a teenager who drank his own urine to slake his thirst, and a 4-year-old boy who was offered a jelly bean to calm him down as he was shimmied out.