“For the rest of my life I will be haunted by the voices of the people who were in the ruins. These are the voices of the buried living.” “Even when she asked us to cut off her leg to get her out, she said it with a smile. The girl left us twice, and we understood this from Kostas’ voices.

What they saw and experienced during their seven-day mission to the earthquake-affected areas of Turkey, members of the Greek mission told at a press conference yesterday. EMAK and EKAV rescuers often spoke with tearful eyes of excitement about the difficulties of the operation, the reaction of the Turkish population to the word “Yunan” (Greek), and scenes of unspeakable pain, which, according to representatives of the fire department and EKAV, “we will always carry with us.”

Greeks come first

The Greek mission was the first foreign mission to set foot on Turkish soil in response to Turkey’s request for a European civil protection mechanism. “In the event of a disaster, your neighbor will be the first to rush to your aid,” said EKAV rescuer Eftimis Aravanis, answering a reporter’s question.

Touching stories of members of the rescue team that arrived in the earthquake-affected areas.

“We set up an information collection office and asked the local population to provide us with information about the people who were trapped in the ruins,” explained Panagiotis Yiannopoulos, who coordinated the activities of the EMAK staff. During an operation to rescue an 11-year-old boy by members of the Greek mission, firefighter assistant Thomas Krikellis said: “He was lying and could not even turn his head to drink water. Every time I took a glass, he grabbed my hand and said “no, no, no”, meaning to continue to give him water, and then constantly reminded me in English that he was at 10% strength, that he could take no more.”

What moment shocked you the most? one of the journalists asked the representatives of EMAK and EKAV. “We just arrived. Baby, he must be 7-8 years old. He came up to me and held out a box of cookies. For me, this moment was much higher, much stronger than all the others,” said Dr. Socratis Dukas, unable to hide the excitement.

“What will stay with me is the image of children playing and laughing in the playground next to the ruins,” Mr. Yiannopoulos added. For EMAK rescuer Konstantinos Nikas, who came into the limelight when his father was with EMAK, the most important moment was rescuing little Irene. “We spent too much time around the stuck woman. Technically, it was a very difficult rescue, so the moment we did it was very important to me,” he said.

All five representatives of the Greek mission spoke about the warm reception of the victims of Turkey and the feelings that surrounded them with the local population. “During breaks, ordinary citizens came up to us to treat us with tea or bread. When we queued up at the makeshift counter, people parted for us to go ahead,” Mr. Yiannopoulos said. “While in the camp, we saw a man who gestured for us to go backstage. There he brought out trays of Turkish sweets. He told us to eat one on the spot, and the second he wanted us to take with us,” Thomas Krikellis described with a sad smile on his lips. In conclusion, the mission participants considered it necessary to make it clear that they are not heroes, as reported in the media, but professionals trained to act in such conditions.