Hampshire firefighters tunnel for 19 hours in earthquake rescue
Two people were pulled from the wreckage of a collapsed building in Turkey
Last updated 15th Feb 2023
Firefighters from Hampshire have rescued two people from a collapsed building in Turkey after spending 19 hours tunnelling to reach them.
The nine-strong team is among 77 experts from the UK helping with the search and rescue operation following the earthquake.
Steve Hartley from Hampshire and Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service took part in the rescue in Hatay.
He said: "They (rescuers) located the voices and actually paced out where they thought the casualties were.
"They spent 19 hours tunnelling in.
"One of the team members put his hand through some rubble and actually made contact with the casualty and held her hand, they passed her water.
"It then took us a further six hours to basically make the void big enough to extricate the casualty."
After the woman was pulled from the rubble, a man was also rescued.