Chinese rescue team help save pregnant victim of Turkiye quake

China's official rescue team worked with local rescuers to pull a pregnant woman out of the rubble of a building that collapsed during a devastating earthquake in Antakya, Turkiye, early on Thursday morning, according to the Ministry of Emergency Management.

The 82-member team headed to the city without any rest after arriving in the city of Adana at 4:30 am local time on Wednesday. They then spent about five hours traveling to Antakya, the ministry said in a news release on Thursday.

The woman was rescued at 1:30 am from an eight-story building that crumbled after a magnitude 7.8 earthquake hit Turkiye and its neighbor Syria on Monday. That earthquake was followed by a magnitude 7.5 temblor along with hundreds of aftershocks.

After holding talks with local governments, during which workers from the Chinese embassy also participated, the team found a site to set up camp, the release said. Members of the team threw themselves into humanitarian rescue operations immediately afterwards.

The release said Chinese rescuers have began conducting searches in two areas for earthquake victims.