After five days of absolute darkness and silence beneath the concrete in Turkey, the rescue of a baby defied every medical prognosis. At 128 hours after the devastating earthquake, the chances of finding anyone alive were virtually zero—especially a baby, who lacks sufficient energy reserves and cannot regulate body temperature independently. Yet the infant continued to live.

The little one survived surrounded by cold and dust amid the ruins of a building in Hatay province (near Antakya/İskenderun). When rescuers pulled the baby free, the moment erased the growing resignation that had begun to settle over the affected region. The sight of the infant emerging from the debris became a powerful demonstration that life can cling to existence even when everything around it appears to have collapsed.

The baby, a girl approximately two months old at the time of the February 6, 2023, magnitude 7.8 earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria, was found on February 11. She was initially given the temporary name “Gizem” (Turkish for “Mystery”) by caregivers because her family could not be identified. Remarkably, she showed no major health problems despite the prolonged entrapment without food or water in freezing winter conditions.

Later, DNA testing confirmed her identity as Vetin Begdaş. Fifty-four days after the rescue, she was reunited with her mother, Yasemin Begdaş, who had also survived and was receiving treatment in a hospital in Adana. The emotional reunion was facilitated by Turkey’s Ministry of Family and Social Services. Tragically, Vetin’s father and two brothers did not survive the disaster.

Her survival ranks among the most widely shared “miracle” rescues from the earthquake, which claimed tens of thousands of lives across the region. It offered a rare moment of hope amid widespread destruction and grief, reminding the world of both the fragility and the extraordinary resilience of human life—even the smallest among us.

Sources

• Contemporary reports from Snopes, Anadolu Agency, EL PAÍS, The Independent, Al Jazeera, and TRT World on the February 2023 Turkey-Syria earthquake rescue of a two-month-old baby (initially called Gizem, later identified as Vetin Begdaş) after approximately 128 hours under rubble in Hatay province, her subsequent care, and reunion with her mother Yasemin Begdaş via DNA testing 54 days later