The first group of rescuers of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Kyrgyzstan, who participated in the elimination of the consequences of a powerful earthquake in Turkey, was met at Manas International Airport.
Not only relatives and friends of the servicemen, but also their colleagues, representatives of the Turkish Embassy in the Kyrgyz Republic, as well as activists came to welcome the heroes who had saved several lives.
After passing passport control, the rescuers were greeted with flowers, an orchestra of the National Guard and applause. According to the custom, the heroes who returned home were treated to boorsoks with kaimak.
According to the head of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, Boobek Azhikeev, the compatriots managed to save eight people, including children, and pulled 198 bodies of the dead from under the rubble.
«The Kyrgyz people, the government shared the pain of Turkey and provided support. You, risking your life, saved the lives of other people affected by the earthquake. You not only fulfilled your civic duty, but also showed a special kinship with the Turkish people. We will never forget this. I express my gratitude to you on behalf of the Turkish people,» he said.
An employee of the press service of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, Nurzat Muratbekova, said that she covered the work of Kyrgyzstan’s rescuers in Turkey.
«Our rescuers showed special courage. When they cleared the rubble, they found living people under the rubble. For example, in the city of Antakya, our servicemen rescued three people who had laid under the rubble of an apartment building for 13 days. Earlier, other rescuers, who worked on site, said that there were neither living nor dead. Two more of those who were pulled out, unfortunately, died later. Citizens of Turkey asked our rescuers to clear the area, saying that their parents were under the rubble,» she told.
«I work on a contract basis. Chipo found two people under the rubble. In total, three rescue dogs worked at the scene of the tragedy. We worked 12 hours a day. Now Chipo can probably rest for a few days. I will rest as long as the commander says,» he smiled.
Another rescuer Ruslan Utanov said that his team had to work in two cities affected by the earthquake — first in Kahramanmaraş and then in Hatay.
«On February 12, we arrived in Turkey and started rescue work. We worked in the city of Gaziantep for five days, then we were transferred to Hatay. The work was hard, because, on the one hand, you hear the despair of people, and on the other hand, it was necessary to do the work. My team, like other rescuers, had to pull bodies of dead out from under the rubble,» he told.
Two earthquakes of magnitude 7.8 and 7.5 hit southern Turkey on February 6 near Gaziantep city, where more than a million people live. Dozens of aftershocks were registered in Syria, Georgia and other countries.
The Turkish Embassy in Kyrgyzstan announced collection of humanitarian aid. A single deposit account has been opened in Kyrgyzstan to raise funds to help the victims. The number of victims of the earthquake in Turkey exceeded 45,000 people. A citizen of Kyrgyzstan died in Hatay. Almost 5,800 deaths were reported in Syria.
