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The leader of Poland’s HUSAR rescue team, which was dispatched to Turkey to seek out survivors of the earthquake, has reported to PAP about the strong emotion felt when rescuing 12 individuals.
Brigadier Grzegorz Borowiec, commander of HUSAR (Heavy Urban Search and Rescue), announced to PAP that his team of 76 firefighters, five medics, eight search dogs, and mountain rescuers was successful and was scheduled to return to Poland on Wednesday afternoon.
“It’s a success, certainly much greater than we had expected,” Borowiec said. “We didn’t think it would ever be possible to save so many human beings through any of our activities.
“However, 12 people is really a big result that makes a big impression on the rescue world,” he added, going on to say that in terms of the number of survivors rescued, the Polish team was in the top five.
According to Borowiec, luck played a huge role in his squad’s triumph. The team had initially intended to travel to Adiyaman, in southeastern Turkey, but eventually settled on Besni, a town close by. Here they discovered many people trapped beneath debris and debris. As a result, they were able to do something truly remarkable: rescue those in need and aid them in any way possible.
The residents of the town were relying solely on the Polish rescue team for the first two days. The cold was especially hard to bear, as temperatures dropped to a frigid -5 or -6 degrees each night, with icy winds making the conditions even worse.
Upon locating the first survivor on the initial night, Borowiec noted that the team experienced immense sentiment. Their joy was further intensified when they identified an additional four individuals before daybreak.
“But the greatest euphoria during the operation occurred when we pulled the twelfth person out,” he said. “We didn’t have much belief that after several days under the rubble it would be possible to find someone alive.”
By Wednesday morning, the tragic death toll from the earthquake in Turkey and Syria had surpassed 40,000.
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