A defeated, but also determined look that says: I won’t let go of her. The photo in which Mesut Hançer (49) held the hand of his deceased daughter Irmak went around the world. Now the father tells his story in Turkish media. “I tried to dig with my bare hands to save my princess, but it didn’t work. Giving up your own child… That is indescribable.”
The morning after the earthquake in Turkey, photographer Adem Altan from AFP news agency was in Kahramanmaraş, the epicenter of the disaster. There was no rescue team on site yet: the residents tried to clear the rubble themselves to save their loved ones. Altan saw a man in an orange coat sitting motionless in the rubble of what had once been a ten-story building.
The photographer suddenly realized that the man had one hand in his. At that moment, he immediately thought that this image perfectly summarized the pain of the earthquake victims. The impact was huge: Mesut Hançer’s photo would go around the world.
Stayed with grandma
Hançer has now buried his daughter. Her name is inscribed on a flat wooden post numbered 380 in Kapiçam cemetery. “I was working in the bakery when the earth shook,” Hançer recalls. “I called my wife. She said she, my two daughters and my son were safe.” But his youngest daughter Irmak stayed that night with her grandmother, where her cousins were also visiting.
The father called his mother, but no one answered. He ran to the building, hoping it hadn’t collapsed. His prayers were not answered. He found his daughter under the rubble, but it was not allowed to be cleaned up just like that because further collapse was imminent. “I tried to dig with my bare hands to save my princess, but I couldn’t get her out. I prayed a lot, but unfortunately it didn’t work. I lost her.” His mother and two older brothers also died.
Sadness
Rescue workers eventually helped to remove Irmak’s body from the debris, he tells Tele 1. “With picks and a shovel. I didn’t want to let go of her hand for a moment, there was no other choice for me. My only consolation is that my daughter slept like an angel in her bed. She went without pain.”
LOOK. Ismihan (85) rescued alive from rubble by nephew after 152 hours
The grief is immense. “It is terrible to bury your mother, father or brother, but to give up your own child… that is indescribable. She took my life, my heart and my arms with her when she died.”
Photographer Adem Altan tried to talk to the father. However, the quieter it was, the better the voices of possible survivors could be heard under the rubble. The image of father and daughter together is now etched in his memory. “I was so moved that I had tears in my eyes. I kept thinking what excruciating pain this must be.”
Read also: Tugkan drives 3,750 km in one go to help victims in Turkey: “Getting some fresh air on the way was not an option” (+)
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