A piece of news that has gone around the world was the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that shook Turkey and Syria on February 6. The natural disaster so far has left an unfortunate balance of at least 25,000 people dead and tens of thousands injured. Among them, a couple from Orlando who was at the scene of the tragedy.
Rescue teams have been working around the clock to pull survivors out of the rubble. However, despite the fact that there are some stirring successes in Turkeyan aid group explains that hope is fading in northwestern Syria.
The image taken with a drone shows the destruction after the strong earthquake in the city of Kahramanmaras (Turkey). / EFE/EPA/ABIR SULTAN
This was the case with the unfortunate discovery of a couple from Orlando among the rubble of the earthquake. A relative of the victims claimed to have found them lifeless, but still embraced.
Also read: Baby survived earthquake in Syria, tied to his mother by umbilical cord
The couple was identified as Alex y Veronicawho had been newlyweds since July 2022. The man was a mortgage broker, while she was a nurse at Orlando Health.
Part of his relatives lived in Iskenderun, on the Mediterranean coast of Turkey. On the occasion of a visit and medical treatment, the newlyweds were in the place, staying in a five-story building, which collapsed in the earthquake.
They had been in Turkey since January 28 for in vitro fertilization treatments and were ready to start a family.
The find
A family friend, identified as Vasilios Poulosreceived a call on Thursday about the death of his friend:
“Alex’s brother with the rescue team found him under the rubble and confirmed they were still in bed, they were holding each other on the bed with concrete on top,” the man said.
“They didn’t even get a chance to get up, just maybe think, shaking, what’s going on and the lights go out. She didn’t deserve it. The suffering there is of a level that there are no words to describe it,” Poulos told a news network.
A goodbye
A memorial for the couple will be held at 8:00 pm on Monday, February 13, at Cafe 34 Istanbul in International Drive en Orlando.
New cases such as the Ilgin couple are known every day. Rescuers in Turkey call their work a relentless race to get the survivors out.
Alex Ilgin, victim of the earthquake in Turkey
Despite the difficulties and the heartbreaking news, the rescuers keep doing their job in the hope of reaching as many survivors as possible.
