Survivor rescued from rubble in Turkey — after family prepared grave

Two people were pulled out alive from the rubble in Turkey on Thursday, 11 days after a powerful earthquake decimated the region — including a mom whose family had lost hope and prepared her grave.

Mother-of-two Neslihan Kilic was rescued from the debris at the eleventh-hour, when crews heard a voice from the ruins just moments after the family had called off the search.

“We had prepared her grave and we asked the rescue workers to stop digging as we feared they would damage the remaining corpses under the rubble,” Kilic’s brother-in-law told broadcaster CNN Turk.

“Moments later, her voice was heard from under the ruins of the building.”

Kilic’s husband and two children, however, are still missing.

Ten hours earlier, another miracle occurred when a 17-year-old girl was extracted from what was left of an apartment bloc in Turkey’s southeastern Kahramanmaras province, broadcaster TRT Haber reported.

Astonishing footage shows the teen wrapped in a gold-colored thermal blanket being carried on a stretcher to an ambulance.

Since the catatrophic Feb. 6 quake, rescues have dwindled drastically in recent days as the death toll across Turkey and Syria nears 42,000.

Over 36,000 people in Turkey were killed in the earthquake, while in neighboring Syria, 5,800 deaths have been reported.

Neither country has said how many people are still unaccounted for.

Meanwhile, frustration has grown in Turkey over corrupt building practices that allowed such a large number of buildings to collapse. The country has promised it will launch an investigation of anyone believed to be responsible.

Residents of a luxury apartment complex that collapsed in the southern city of Antakya slammed the contractor responsible for buildings on the entire block. Officials believe 650 people died when the high-end Renaissance Residence apartments crumbled.

“I have two children. No others. They are both under this rubble,” said grieving mother Sevil Karaabdüloğlu.

“We rented this place as an elite place, a safe place. How do I know that the contractor built it this way? … Everyone is looking to make a profit. They’re all guilty,” she charged.

Across the border in Syria, the earthquake devastated a region already divided and run down from 12 years of civil war.

The country’s government has tallied 1,414 deaths in the territory it holds. Over 4,000 deaths have been counted in the rebel-held region in the northwest. Rescuers have said nobody has been rescued alive from the rubble since Feb. 9.

With the main route used by the United Nations into Syria temporarily blocked, aid there has been delayed. Days after the disaster, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad approved of opening two additional routes.

On Thursday, the UN said 119 trucks had gone through the Bab-al-Hawa and Bab-al-Salam crossings since the earthquake, bringing aid that included food, medication, tents and other shelter items.

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The aid also included cholera testing kits amid an outbreak in the region.

With Post wires