SCDF helps to rescue man trapped in semi-collapsed building in Turkey

Working together with a local emergency response team, they managed to rescue the man within 30 minutes.

Andrew Koay | February 11, 2023, 11:55 AM

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The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) has helped to rescue a man trapped in the rubble of a two-storey building in a south-eastern Turkish town.

According to an update on Facebook, members of the SCDF's Operation Lionheart were dispatched together with the Local Emergency Management Agency (LEMA) to conduct a search and rescue operation in Kahramanmaraş.

Faint calls for help had been heard coming from a semi-collapsed building.

Rescued within 30 minutes

The team assessed the stability of the building before five elite Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team personnel, a paramedic, and LEMA conducted the search and rescue operation.

Entering through the building's rear, the team accessed the floor — where faint calls had been heard — and used a fibre-optic scope to confirm that the man was indeed there.

They found that he was trapped behind a large concrete slab.

LEMA then used a breaking equipment to create an opening and the man was rescued within 30 minutes.

After he was brought down from the building, the man was attended to by locals.

68 SCDF personnel in Turkey

Four days after the region was hit by a devastating earthquake, Al Jazeera reported the confirmed death toll in Turkey and northwest Syria to be more than 23,700; it is the region's deadliest earthquake in 20 years.

Turkey's president, Tayyip Erdogan, previously stated that 45 countries had offered help with search and rescue efforts.

Singapore has thus far sent 68 SCDF personnel as part of the Operation Lionheart contingent.

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Top image from SCDF's Facebook