Philippe Besson is the president of the Pompiers de l'urgence internationale, a French NGO based in Limoges, which responds to natural disasters in France and around the world. On February 7, he took 36 volunteer firefighters, search and rescue specialists, to Turkey to help find survivors after the earthquakes that hit the country hard.

With them, more than two tons of equipment and three tracking dogs to help them search the rubble, "the fastest method to locate the buried living victims," he said. Indeed, "the dog will show a very great interest in a scent that he has been able to capture and he will start barking where he perceives this scent," he continues.

Then it's the race against time. The lieutenant-colonel explains that you have to go very fast and start clearing the area from which the scent arrives. An operation that can sometimes take 12 hours before you can come into contact with the buried person. The firefighters must then maintain dialogue with her throughout the rescue: "She must not fall asleep, we keep her alive."

Their team helped pull an 11-year-old girl and a 62-year-old woman out of the rubble alive. He tells how they were able to save them in the video at the top of this article.

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Earthquake in Turkey and Syria: Northern rescuers saved two lives

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Earthquakes in Turkey: Teenage girl rescued from rubble eleven days after earthquake

  • 20 minutes video
  • Earthquake
  • Turkey
  • World
  • Natural disaster
  • Fire brigade