Huseyin Berber's voice was hoarse from calling for help from under the rubble of his home, but he was finally freed more than a week after Turkey's massive earthquake, defying the odds for survival and one of several remarkable stories to emerge.
Doctors say people can live, even with out water, for days. But there are so many variables — what injuries were sustained in a building collapse and how hot or cold is it outside — that rescuers say anything after five days is miraculous.
Berber, a 62-year-old diabetic, survived 187 hours after the walls of his ground-floor apartment were propped up by a fridge and a cabinet, leaving him an armchair to sit in and a rug to keep him warm.