‘It’s incredibly overwhelming’: South London firefighters helping Turkey’s earthquake victims

Firefighters from South London have saved victims from the rubble and destruction left behind by a devastating earthquake in Turkey.

The magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck on February 6, destroying large swathes of Turkey and Syria.

It has been labelled the fifth deadliest earthquake of the 21st century, with at least 37,000 people confirmed dead so far.

The next day, firefighters from the London Fire Brigade rushed to offer their services, and have have been working under the UK International Search and Rescue (ISAR) team to help find survivors.

One firefighter, Sarah Mimnagh, 32, from Battersea fire station in Este Road, helped rescue a 66-year-old woman who had been stuck for 72 hours.

She said: “On the ground we were directed to places where people thought they’d heard voices, or where people think their family members might be.

“And this particular building was previously a six-storey building and it collapsed to two storeys, and the second floor was at my knee height. And we could hear a voice inside.”

Sarah said the team used a search dog to spot any signs of life and a “positive hit” from the dog led them to the trapped woman.

“I was chosen to go in as I am a little bit smaller than most of my team. When I finally managed to get around the corner to the lady, she was completely covered in debris and rubble, but I could just see her head.”

The team worked painstakingly for an hour to remove the rubble along a 15m tunnel they had made, and eventually managed to free her.

Sarah said: “It was one of those moments that I will probably never experience again in my career. It was absolutely amazing we could get her back to her family outside and get her that medical care.

“A lot of it was just being there, just holding her hand through the long periods of time so she was reassured because she had already been there for the best part of 72 hours, stuck in that position.”

This is Sarah’s first overseas deployment with the UK ISAR team. She has been based in Hatay, about 95 miles from the epicentre of the earthquake.

She said: “It’s incredibly overwhelming just to be here. We’ve moved so quickly. We went from being in the airport on Monday to 60 hours later still awake and making rescues.

“It has been an incredibly rapid turnaround. The support we’ve had back home has spurred us on to keep going while we’re here.”

The entire UK team of firefighters who are part of the ISAR operation are headed up by London Fire Brigade’s assistant commissioner David O’Neill, who lives in Wallington.

He said: “We are located in the centre of Hatay, which is very badly destroyed by the quake. I would say probably 80 per cent of the buildings are affected.

“We extracted two people yesterday in separate locations from a building, a 66-year-old lady and a 91-year-old lady from different parts of the town.

They are very dehydrated, they are hypothermic. The temperature drops here to around -5C at night, and that is a big concern of ours. That temperature affects the survivability of people. But they are resilient people.

“I think hearing the effort that’s going on outside is a big motivator for the people that are trapped. With the calling and shouting, there’s always hope. I think people are hanging in there and staying alive for as long as they can.

“They are working from first light through into darkness. They got back in from yesterday morning.

“The team returned at two o’clock this morning, and after five hours sleep they are back out again today to maximise the light and maximise the window we have got for survivability.”

Pictured top: Sarah Mimnagh, second from right, on the ground in Hatay (Picture: London Fire Brigade)