Dutch rescue team: chance of finding someone extremely small

The Dutch search and rescue team USAR will again search for earthquake survivors in Turkey on Saturday. But "the chances of us finding anyone again are extremely slim," said team member Jop Heinen on the sixth day after the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria.

On Friday, the team managed to retrieve an 8-year-old boy alive from the rubble, 106 hours after the earthquakes. Heinen said that minutes later, another rescue team had just found a child who had died. "That leads us to go back and forth in terms of the feelings and experiences we have here as a team in helping all these affected people."

The rescue team is operating in Hatay. In the night from Friday to Saturday, it was cold there again with morning temperatures below freezing, Heinen said. "Nevertheless, we will make another extreme effort. In the near future, two rescue groups will already be working in the area," he announced. "We hope that we can use the minimal chance to find someone after all and do something for the severely affected population."

In recent days, the Dutch rescue team has managed to rescue 11 people. USAR left Eindhoven Airport for Turkey on Monday evening and set up a base camp in the disaster area on Tuesday. The team consists of specially trained police, fire, rescue and defense personnel. Eight rescue dogs are also part of the team.

The death toll in Turkey and Syria following Monday's massive earthquakes rose to more than 24,000 on Saturday.