British firefighters in Turkey are rescuing civilians from quake debris – after spending five days underground

BRITISH firefighters filmed the dramatic moment as they pulled a policeman and woman alive from the rubble of a building in Turkey – five days after they were trapped.

Footage shows search and rescue specialists in Hatay, in the south of the country, rescuing the man and woman trapped for 120 hours under a collapsed multi-storey building.

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Phil Irving, 46, from Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, was part of the team that successfully freed the pair on Saturday.

The father-of-two said the fight to save her and her determination to stay alive “will stay with me”.

He added: “These people were buried in rubble and rubble and we had to work around the clock to get them out alive.

“We heard them knocking and screaming, so we knew we were close, but reaching them was a big challenge. They were trapped for over five days but had incredible hope and faith.”

The Haverfordwest Station Superintendent has been a firefighter for almost 24 years and a volunteer with UK International Search and Rescue (UK-ISAR) for 17 years, and was involved in earthquake response in Indonesia in 2009 and Haiti in 2010.

He said it “aches my heart to see the devastation” inflicted on families and their homes.

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“I step back and look at the people who have lost their homes and families and my heart bleeds for them.

“Turkey didn’t deserve this. People don’t deserve this.

“I was walking down the street the other day, there were helicopters overhead, constant sirens, screams in the street, fires in burning braziers, and it feels and looks like a war zone.

“The most difficult conversations we have are when the search dog doesn’t get a hit, there’s no audible sound or sign of life, and then we have to move on.”