Heartrending scenes of a newborn plucked alive from the rubble and a broken father clutching his dead daughter’s hand have laid bare the human cost of violent earthquakes in Syria and Turkey that by Wednesday had claimed about 10,000 lives.
For two days and nights since the 7.8 magnitude quake an impromptu army of rescuers have worked in freezing temperatures to find those still entombed among ruins that pockmark several cities either side of the border.
Officially, the death toll from the disaster now stands at 9,500. But that could yet double if the worst fears of experts are realised.
The World Health Organisation chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that time is running out for the thousands injured and those still feared trapped.
For Mesut Hancer — a resident of Turkish city Kahramanmaras, near the epicentre — it is already too late
