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Miracle rescues in Izmir provide Turks hope following earthquake

A second 3-year-old girl is saved from the rubble, bringing optimism to Izmir even as the number of deaths rise from the 7.0-magnitude quake.

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Rescue workers carry 3-year-old Ayda Gezgin as they pull her out of the rubble of a building 91 hours after it collapsed during a 7.0-magnitude earthquake, at Bayrakli district in Izmir, on Nov. 3, 2020 — YASIN AKGUL/AFP via Getty Images

IZMIR, Turkey —  The morning of Nov. 3, a group of rescuers pulled out 3-year-old Ayda Gezgin out of the rubble. The girl had been buried for 91 hours following the magnitude-7.0 earthquake that struck Izmir, Turkey’s third-largest city, on Oct. 30.

Ayda was found trapped behind a kitchen appliance in her family’s apartment in a collapsed eight-story building. Her father was saved from the rubble the previous day but her mother, Fidan, who was in the flat with her, was killed in the quake, according to Kerem Kinik, the head of Kizilay, Turkey’s Red Crescent.

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