A baby in Turkey, who spent 128 hours trapped under rubble after the country was hit with major earthquakes earlier this year, was reunited with her mother on Saturday.
The pair were separated after devastating earthquakes hit the country in February. A magnitude 7.8 earthquake rocked the country on Feb. 6, followed by a 6.3 magnitude quake later in the month.
Vetin Begdas, 3-and-a-half months old, was named Gizem after she was rescued earlier this year from a building in the Hatay province. Gizem translates to 'mystery' in Turkish. She was pulled out of the rubble of a building more five days after the Feb. 6 earthquake, according to multiple reports.
The country’s Ministry of Family and Social Services said a DNA test proved that the duo is mother and daughter, as translated in multiple reports.
The child’s father and two brothers died in the earthquakes, and her mother, Yasemin Begdas, was previously believed dead, according to multiple reports.
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'Reuniting a mother with her child'
Derya Yanik, the country’s family and social services minister, shared a video of the mother and daughter on Twitter. The baby was flown from Ankara, located in northern Turkey, to Adana, near Turkey’s southern coast. Yasemin Begdas can be seen seen holding her daughter in a hospital bed.
“One of the most priceless tasks in the world is reuniting a mother with her child,” Yanik said, as translated in multiple reports.
The earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria on Feb. 6 killed more than 50,000 people, the majority in Turkey. Hundreds of thousands of buildings in the country either collapsed or were seriously damaged.
Contributing: Associated Press
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