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Saturday, Feb 22, 2025

Turkey earthquake: Man travels over 2,000 miles from South Wales to disaster struck region to find family

Turkey earthquake: Man travels over 2,000 miles from South Wales to disaster struck region to find family

Ahmat Yilmaz travelled through the night after his brother died in the disaster. He hopes to find the rest of his family.

We meet Ahmat at one of the few functioning airports in the earthquake zone.

He has travelled through the night from South Wales to reach his family home of Tut in the Adiyaman province of Turkey.

His brother Ali has been killed after his home crumbled to the ground as a result of the earthquake.


Ali's wife is seriously injured and his two nieces are still buried among the rubble.

We decide to take him, or at least get as close as we can to the village.


Halfway there, Ahmat receives a phone call from his surviving niece to say that no one is coming to help the family.

He is overcome with grief.


Once in the mountains, we're climbing a winding road.

We pass boulders that have fallen from the snow-capped peaks and collapsed roads that lead us up to the village.


What we see when we arrive at the house is heartbreaking.

Ahmat tells us: "It's unbelievable. I've never seen this before. I'm really shocked. I've never seen this happen before in my life... never."

His sister Fara embraces him and the siblings hold each other tight.

She wails with sorrow.


Also waiting is his surviving niece Sidka.

Neighbours one by one come to pay their respects to the family bound by grief.

Ahmat says it was a house full of joy and love, his family now destroyed.

He says the locals want to know where the government help is.


The truth is the government is overwhelmed.

In these remote snowy villages, they will have a long wait.

One man facing the enormity of it all in this country of countless tragedies.

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