Father, 42, reveals how he and his daughter, eight, survived four days in 3ft high gap by playing ‘rock, scissors, paper’ and hugging while his mother lay dead in another room before rescue from rubble in quake-hit Turkey

• Cem Okur, 42, and daughter Tanem Safiye were trapped in Defne in Hatay
• They were rescued after 101 hours when a rescue team burrowed into the home 

A father and daughter who were trapped in the rubble of their home after Turkey’s devastating earthquake have told how they played ‘rock, scissors, paper’ for more than four days before being rescued.

Cem Okur, 42, and daughter Tanem Safiye, eight, escaped serious injury, but were stuck in pitch darkness in a 3ft high gap between the ceiling and floor of their apartment in a five-storey block after it collapsed around them.

In an exclusive interview with MailOnline, the pair told how they tried to take their minds off their ordeal by repeatedly playing the children’s game which involves trying to outfox an opponent by displaying hand symbols of either a rock, scissors or paper.

They were finally rescued after 101 hours when a search and rescue team managed to burrow into the remains of their home in the Defne district of Turkey’s southern Hatay province.

Cem’s mother who lived with them was killed in another room when debris crashed on top of her in the earthquake shortly after 4am on Monday last week.

Father and daughter Cem Okur and Tanem Safiye who were trapped in the rubble of their home after Turkey’s devastating earthquake played ‘rock, scissors, paper’ waiting for rescue

They were finally rescued after 101 hours when a search and rescue team managed to burrow into the remains of their home

As he recovered in hospital with his daughter, Cem told how he hugged her to keep her warm and tried to reassure her that they would be saved, despite inwardly fearing that help might never come.

Describing how the earthquake struck as they slept in their second storey apartment, he likened it to the ‘ground exploding’ beneath them, saying: ‘It was like Armageddon and was so bad. The first minutes were terrible.

‘The upper floors above us were destroyed and the ceiling above us came down so we were stuck in a one metre high gap. We could not see anything and we had to crawl along the floor to be with each other. It seemed like there was no air.’

He said that they became increasingly dehydrated without water, and feared dying from thirst before finally finding bottles to drink in the darkness after 24 hours.

Cem said: ‘I tried to swallow the wetness in my throat. It was all I could do. If I had two homes, I would have gladly swapped one just for a little bit of water to keep us alive.’

He said he was in ‘deep pain’ knowing that his mother was probably lying dead, but he tried not to reveal his anguish to his daughter.

As the death toll from the earthquake and its aftershocks in Turkey and Syria soared to more than 41,000 people, Cem added: ‘My child is so important to me, like the world. I tried to say that we would overcome our situation.

‘We were very close together and we kept playing “rock, paper, scissors”, but we were not smiling while we were playing that game. We also sang songs, told stories and prayed together for God to save us.’

Tanem was rescued first because she was small enough to squeeze through a gap and she was stretchered away to an ambulance 

Tanem munched a tube of Pringles crisps and cuddled a white teddy bear in hospital in Hatay

Workers walk between collapsed buildings after the powerful earthquake in Hatay, Turkey, 15 February

Greek and Turkish rescuers are at work to extract bodies of victims from the rubble of a collapsed building in Antakya, south of Hatay

The pair also found a bottle of healing rose water which Tanem used to dab bruises and cuts on her father’s back and hands, easing his pain.

Cem said his daughter repeatedly begged: ‘Daddy, please keep your word and save me’. She added: ‘Daddy, I miss your face so much. I want to see you.’

He told how he repeatedly used a piece of rubble to hit a wall in the hope that rescuers might hear the sound.

His efforts finally alerted a team of search and rescue volunteers and soldiers who dug through the rubble to reach them.

Tanem was rescued first because she was small enough to squeeze through a gap and she was stretchered away to an ambulance, telling paramedics she wanted her father to be given the message: ‘Daddy, I love you, I am very well’.

When she was told she was being taken to hospital, she asked: ‘Are we going to drink water there?’

Cem who was pulled out later and taken to hospital alongside his daughter, said: ‘I feel great to be alive and so happy. It is a better feeling than being the richest person in the world.

‘Just being here safe with my daughter is what is important.’

He added: ‘Tanem and I prayed to God, “Either kill us or get out”. Tanem told me, “Dad, I can’t live without you. If you die, I will die.” I replied: “There will be no such thing.”

Describing the moment they knew help was coming he said: ‘There came a force, I started hitting the wall. A voice came from there. As we were about to deliver our souls, God sent someone and said, “Get out.”’

As she munched a tube of Pringles crisps and cuddled a white teddy bear in hospital in Hatay, Tanem said: ‘My father told me stories there and sang songs.

‘We also played games – rock, paper scissors. We couldn’t see through the dark, we were telling each other which sign we were making.

She added: ‘My father wrapped me in a blanket, but I was still cold. He tried to warm me in his arms.’

Source: Read Full Article