The Rescue Team Successfully Evacuated Two People After 11 Days Of Being Buried In Turkey's Earthquake Collapse, The Death Toll Was 43 Thousand Souls

Search for victims of the Turkish earthquake. (Wikimedia Commons/VOA/Onur Erdogan)

JAKARTA - The rescue team managed to withdraw alive two people from the rubble in Turkey, 11 days after an earthquake that killed more than 43 thousand people, as aid agencies stepped up efforts to help millions of people lose their homes.

Osman Halebiye (14) was rescued last night in Antakya City in Turkey's southeast, 260 hours after a major earthquake that hit midnight on February 6, state news agency Anadolu said. He is being treated in hospital.

While Mustafa Avci (34), was also found alive in Antakya 261 hours after the earthquake. When he was taken away on a stretcher, he made a video call with his parents showing his newborn baby.

"I really lost all the hope. This is a real miracle. They brought my son back to me. I saw the rubble and I thought nothing could be saved alive from there. We are ready for the worst," said his father Ali Avci, as reported by Reuters on February 17.

But such rescues became increasingly rare after the deadliest earthquake in Turkey's modern history, an earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale followed by a power not much different an hour later.

Turkey's death toll now stands at 38,044, officials said. While in neighboring Syria, which has been destroyed by more than a decade of civil war, authorities reported more than 5,800 deaths.

Most of Syria's casualties are in the northwest, a rebel-held area that is at war with President Bashar al-Assad, a conflict that complicates efforts to help people affected by the earthquake.

It is known, neither Turkey nor Syria said how many people were still missing after the earthquake.

Meanwhile, the United Nations (UN) on Thursday asked for more than $1 billion in funding for a Turkish aid operation, just two days after launching a $400 million request for Syrian citizens.