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The death toll from the devastating earthquake in Turkey and Syria is reported to have risen to 44,000.
The number of people found alive under the rubble has dropped to only a handful in recent days
The head of Turkey’s disaster agency, Yunus Sezer, said rescue operations would be “largely completed” by Sunday night.
Meanwhile, the body of former Ghana international footballer Christian Atsu also found beneath a collapsed building in Antakya.
State news agency Anadolu initially reported on Saturday three people were found alive nearly two weeks after the 7.8-magnitude earthquake hit on February 6. But the agency later reported that one of them, a 12-year-old, had died.
Anadolu images showed rescuers placing a man and a woman on stretchers after the married couple and a child spent 296 hours under the rubble in the southeastern Turkish city of Antakya.
The agency later reported three of their children had died including the 12-year-old.
Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca shared a video of the 40-year-old mother in a field hospital receiving treatment. “She is conscious,” he tweeted.
AFP correspondents said rescuers from Kyrgyzstan continued working in Antakya with the hope of finding more people pulled out alive after thermal tests showed signs of life.
Teams on Friday pulled four people alive from the rubble, including a 45-year-old man and a 14-year-old boy, in the surrounding Hatay province.
Rescues that were initially met with applause and relief, have in recent days been greeted more soberly.
Officials and medics said that 40,642 people had died in Turkey and 3,688 in Syria from the quake, bringing the confirmed total to 44,330. The toll from Syria has remained unchanged for days.
The quake — in one of the world’s most active seismic zones — hit populated areas as many slept, in homes that had not been built to resist such powerful tremors.
The disaster has put pressure on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan over the slow response to the quake and why his government allowed such poor-quality buildings to be erected.
Vanguard
