Leicestershire firefighters rescue eight people buried under rubble in Turkey

The firefighters have travelled to Turkey as part of an international search and rescue team.

Four Leicestershire firefighters are in Turkey as part of the UK ISAR (International Search and Rescue) Team to help with the search and rescue mission following the devastating earthquakes.

77 people from the UK ISAR team have travelled to Turkey to rescue people trapped under collapsed buildings.

Since being there they have rescued eight people including a man and a woman who had been buried in deep rubble for six days.

It took the team a total of 17 hours to rescue them from the wreckage.

Stephen Willatt, the leader of ISAR in Leicestershire, said: "The area that we were working in was pretty much total devastation. If the buildings weren't actually on the floor they were very very unsafe and we had to search those buildings to see if there was any chance of life inside."

He spoke to Fosse 107

The Leicestershire ISAR team have been updating residents about their work on social media and said: "The team have also carried out area assessments of the remote villages surrounding the city of Hatay to address humanitarian needs including shelter, food, water and medical requirements.

"As the deployment now moves to the Second stage the UK team are now preparing to return home."

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