Adem Altan, a photographer for 40 years, 15 of them working at the AFP news agency, took footage in front of a collapsed building in Kahramanmaras, the epicenter of the devastating earthquake that shook Turkey and Syria, when he suddenly saw the man sitting in the rubble.
I kept saying to myself, ‘My God, this is unbearable pain.’
As no rescue team had yet reached the Turkish city on Tuesday, a day after the earthquake that has already left more than 20,000 dead in both countries, the inhabitants themselves tried to clear the ruins to save their loved ones.
The man in the orange jacket stood motionless in the tumult, impervious to the rain and cold. Adem Altan then realized that the man, 60 meters from him, had a hand in his.
(Also: Turkey: mother and her newborn rescued after 4 days under rubble).
He began to shoot his camera to immortalize the scene: the father holding the hand of his dead daughter without letting go, among the rubble and devastation. As Adem took the photos, the man followed him with his eyes.
“Take pictures of my daughter,” she murmured in Adem’s direction, her voice cracking and shaking.
For a moment she let go of her daughter’s hand to show the photographer the place where her 15-year-old daughter lay. Soon enough, she took her hand again.
![](https://www.eltiempo.com/images/1x1.png)
Mesut Hancer holds his daughter’s hand, among the rubble in Turkey.
(It may be of interest to you: Seer Mhoni, who predicted an earthquake, made a strong prediction for Monday the 13th).
“I was very emotional at that moment. I had tears. He told myself: ‘My God, it’s unbearable pain,’” the photographer recounted. According to what he said, from the way the girl was trapped, he already knew that she was dead.
Adem then asked her name and that of her daughter. “My daughter, Irmak,” replied Mesut Hancer.
I think it is a photo that will remain in the memory
“He spoke with difficulty, in a very low voice. It was difficult to ask him more questions, as the people around him were asking people to keep quiet so that they could hear the voices of the possible survivors trapped under the rubble,” said the photojournalist.
At that moment, he immediately thought that the image summed up the pain of the earthquake victims. She had no idea the impact it would have. Posted on front pages by the world press, the photograph went viral on social media, shared hundreds of thousands of times by distraught internet users.
![](https://www.eltiempo.com/images/1x1.png)
The father in the middle of the rubble. (Right side with orange jacket).
(Keep reading: Heartwarming rescue of puppy trapped in rubble in Turkey.)
Adem Altan has received thousands of messages from around the world with expressions of solidarity and emotion at the grief of this dejected father. “I think it is a photo that will remain in the memory. Many people have told me that they will never forget this image,” he stated. Neither did he.
What happened to the father?
![](https://www.eltiempo.com/images/1x1.png)
Mesut Hancer looks into the reporter’s camera.
For about three hours, the photographer was by his side, attentive to the rescue work that was going on around him. The next day, he returned intrigued as to what had happened to the man.
“I was curious to know what happened to them, but they were no longer there. They had lifted part of the rubble, ”she added in another conversation for the ‘W Radio’ chain.
“I had already been in other tragedies, but in this image the situation was different. There was tragedy and pain in the family and the difficulties of the moment and the lack of response from the State. With this image many more things are said than could be said with words”, he concluded.
AFP and TIME
You can also read:
– The story of Johanna Carolina, a Colombian who died after earthquakes.
– The young Colombian woman who was in a coma in the US died after a serious accident.
– How long can a person survive under rubble?
– Cat is rescued under the rubble left by the earthquake in Turkey.
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