No training enough to work in disaster like in Turkey, says Bosnian rescue worker

HATAY, TURKEY - No rescue team can be trained enough to work in a disaster like in Türkiye, where twin earthquakes devastated 10 cities on Feb 6, a rescue team leader of Bosnia and Herzegovina said Wednesday.

Adi Vrabac, team leader of the Mountain Rescue Service of Kanton Sarajevo, spoke to Anadolu Agency at the airport in Hatay province before boarding a return flight to his country with his group of nine, after completing their mission in the earthquake zone.

Regarding their operations in Hatay, Vrabac said: "It was very difficult."

"We are trained but no one is trained for this. No one is prepared for this," he said over the scale of devastation caused by the quakes.

Saying that he watched videos about how "beautiful" the city was before the disaster and that the difference between what it was and what he saw at the zone is "unimaginable."

"Operations were very difficult, especially in the last couple of days. Because we were finding a lot of bodies," he was quoted in the report.

"The most stressful situation is when you find a family together like father, daughters, and a mother or son it's very difficult."

He noted officials from the Turkish disaster agency AFAD and gendarmerie did "amazing work."

"For the people in general, I just can't admire their strength and resilience that they were shown," Vrabac said.

"We were working on site and people were just coming and giving us food and everything and we were aware that they left without anything."

Vrabac noted that another group of 40 rescuers from Bosnia and Herzegovina is still in the zone, continuing their operations. - BERNAMA