A Turkish Dad Refused To Let Go Of His Dead Daughter’s Hand Buried Below Rubble And It’s Heartbreaking
The dad, Hencer, asked the photographer to take a picture of the scene to show the world his grief.
An image of a father refusing to let go of the hand of his daughter, who had been buried under rubble, has shown the gruesome reality many families in Turkey and Syria are facing in the aftermath of the deadly earthquake.
In the photo, Mesut Hancer can be seen holding the hand of his dead 15-year-old daughter, Irmak, whose body had been buried between a mattress and a slab of concrete.
Only her hand can be seen grabbing her father’s.
The picture was taken by AFP photographer, Adem Atlan, in the southern Turkish city of Kahramanmaraş.
Hancer had asked Atlan to take a picture of the scene to show the world his grief, according to NDTV.
“Unbelievable pain… He never left the hand of his daughter Irmak, who died in the earthquake,” Atlan wrote on Instagram.
Irmak is one of the almost 23,000 casualties in the Turkey and Syria earthquake on Monday Feb. 6.
The 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck at 4:17 a.m. on Monday local time in the south-eastern Turkish city of Gaziantep and felt throughout northwest Syria.
A second earthquake and multiple aftershocks were felt throughout the day and endangered rescue missions.
Several countries and organizations have already sent rescue teams and supplies to help people in Turkey and Syria.
Meanwhile, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has announced a seven-day mourning period and a three-month emergency state for 10 Turkish provinces.
