A concerned mother, Sibongile Ntuli, felt relieved when she called and heard the voice of her daughter, a student in Türkiye, saying she was safe after the deadly earthquake that hit Türkiye and Syria on Monday.
Ntuli, from Faerie Glen, east of Pretoria, said her daughter Thobekile Ntuli – who is studying biomedical engineering in Istanbul – was safe as she was not in the area affected by the quake.
“My daughter is fine, she says they felt the tremors but no damages or injuries were inflicted. As a mother, you will be scared and only get some relief once you hear a voice saying your child is okay.”
Ntuli said it was shocking that so many people died in the quake. “It’s bad once you hear that people died like that,” she said.
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The South African Embassy in Istanbul says no reports of death or injury to any South African have been received and the embassy was monitoring the situation.
5000 people confirmed dead
Over 5 000 people have so far been confirmed dead in Türkiye and Syria, while thousands have been injured and many others still unaccounted for as rescue crews continue to pull more bodies trapped under the rubble.
The 7.8-magnitude quake levelled buildings and caused tremors as far away as Iraq. The quake had hit at least 10 provinces, including Malatya, Gaziantep and Kahramanmaras.
Despite the earthquake said to be confined to the border with Syria, an unconfirmed report – but from a reliable source – said a South African family had lost their house in Ankara.
No further details were obtained by The Citizen. The embassy denied earlier reports that seven South Africans were trapped in a prison that collapsed.
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Detention centre affected
It confirmed that the prisoners were jailed at Turkoglu detention centre in the Kahramanmaras region, where the earthquake mainly occurred.
But they were rescued from the building and moved to a safe place with no injuries. “Nobody is stuck in any building, that information is incorrect.
I’m not aware of any South African trapped in a building and no South African has contacted the embassy to seek help,” an embassy official said.
The official said South Africans usually did not go as tourists to the area where the earthquake happened, but frequented Istanbul and Ankara.
Rescue groups
The embassy is hoping the Gift of the Givers and Hope South Africa Foundation will join the international rescue efforts.
Hope SA foundation is to dispatch 20 volunteers to Türkiye and has appealed for donations for the cost of its disaster relief team’s travel, medical supplies, safety equipment and search and rescue apparatus.
They can be reached on www.hopesa.org. The Turkish embassy in Pretoria was in close contact with their South African counterparts in Türkiye regarding the coordination of rescue missions. A Turkish embassy official confirmed that 20 volunteers from Hope SA would be flying to Türkiye tonight.
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