Calgary man in Turkey finds bodies of mother and sister, struggles to help surviving siblings | 24CA News

World
Published 13.02.2023
Calgary man in Turkey finds bodies of mother and sister, struggles to help surviving siblings  | 24CA News

GRAPHIC WARNING: Some of the main points on this article are graphic and could also be disturbing. 

Mohammad Ajmal Nikzad left Calgary on Feb. 6 to seek for his household, who lives in devastated Turkish metropolis of Kahramanmaraş.

The seven-storey constructing his mom and three siblings lived is in ruins.

“I couldn’t recognize it. I couldn’t find it. As soon as I saw the building, I said: ‘My family is gone,’” Nikzad stated.

“I was going through a doomsday. I saw bodies with no heads, with no eyes… half of their face is gone.”

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He discovered the our bodies of his 23-year-old sister Sayeda Hashimi and his mom Najya.

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The state of affairs is so determined, all Nikzad may do was keep along with his sister’s stays till extra locations may very well be discovered to take the victims.

“Nobody helped me for six hours. I was on the street in the cold weather. My sister was in a bag, her dead body was there,” he stated.

Nizkad walked for hours by town trying to find his brother and sister, who survived. His brother is now in a hospital in Ankara. Both his legs have been amputated.


Click to play video: 'Turkey earthquake: So-called ‘anonymous children’ found in rubble have no idea who their family are'

Turkey earthquake: So-called ‘anonymous children’ present in rubble do not know who their household are


His surviving sister Sajia is in a hospital within the metropolis of Kayseri, the place he’s now, some six hours away.

“She is in very bad condition. The doctor said her kidneys are failed and her lungs are not working very well and they cut her left leg off,” Nikzad stated.

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“I was sleeping on the streets. It was very cold. There is nothing. There’s no shelters. There were some schools I walked in, but there were dead bodies. I couldn’t sleep there,” Nikzad stated.

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Samaritan’s Purse serving to these impacted by the earthquake in Turkey

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Workers with Samaritan’s Purse have deployed a 52-bed Emergency Field Hospital close to Antakya in southern Turkey. They are treating sufferers within the parking zone of a hospital that suffered extreme injury and is now not practical.

“It’s overwhelming,” stated Melanie Wubs, hospital director of the Samaritan’s Purse Emergency Field Hospital.

“I’ve responded to disasters around the world but the scale of this one is just immense. Block after block and quite honestly, body after body. It’s overwhelming.”

Wubs stated the sphere hospital permits folks to be handled nearer to dwelling as an alternative of being transported 4 hours away.

“In the last three-and-a-half hours since we’ve been open, we’ve seen over 45 patients,” stated Wubs on Monday morning. “These are a mix of patients who suffered acute injury, some rescue workers working in the rubble, but also people who suffered injuries in the earthquake and have not been able to reach care before now.”


Click to play video: 'How Calgarians can help victims of earthquake in Turkey and Syria'

How Calgarians can assist victims of earthquake in Turkey and Syria


Nikzad came upon that his sister’s leg needed to amputated. He wonders how he can assist the 2 siblings in cities to date aside. His ideas are additionally along with his spouse and eight-year-old son again dwelling in Calgary.

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“Right now, I am the middle of nowhere. My family is living in Calgary, and I am here.”

The self-employed man installs flooring and feels horrible for not being dwelling now supporting his household in Calgary.

“I need help because I can’t leave these people here. I have to take them with me somehow. I can’t get to Calgary to support my family, so I don’t know what to do. I am lost,” Nikzad stated.

“I’m absolutely lost. I am in shock.”

Nikzad stated his household is initially from Afghanistan however moved to Turkey when his father was killed and his mom, who was a principal at a highschool, acquired demise threats.

“She came to Turkey to be safe. She had 6,000 students and she was fighting for girls to study,” Nikzad stated.

“She would never let their school be closed until they killed my father out there too.”

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