‘I tried to dig up my princess with my bare hands… but I had to abandon her to the rubble’: Father seen holding the hand of his lifeless daughter in quake ruins reveals he lost six other family members – all now buried in huge new cemetery
- The cemetery has trebled in size to accommodate victims of Turkey-Syria quake
- Among those buried there is the daughter of Mesut Hançer, who was photographed tenderly holding the hand of his daughter crushed in the rubble
A giant cemetery has been trebled in size to be a last resting place for Turkey’s earthquake victims including the 15-year-old girl whose father was pictured holding her hand as she lay dead in the ruins.
Mesut Hançer, 49, touched the hearts of the world when he was photographed tenderly holding the hand of his daughter Irmak while she lay crushed in the ruins of his mother’s apartment.
MailOnline can reveal that Mesut lost another six family members including his mother and nieces and nephews in the 7.8 magnitude earthquake which struck Turkey and Syria nine-days-ago. He said he tried to free his daughter with his bare hands, ‘but in the end I had to abandon her to the rubble.’
The graves of the daughter – who he referred to as his ‘princess’ – and his other family members now lie among more than 3,000 freshly dug plots in the Kapiçam cemetery outside the city of Kahramanmaras.
Before the earthquake, the cemetery which opened just two-years-ago featured around 1,500 graves, each with smart headstones and arranged in neat rows along paths beside a woodland beauty spot.
Pictured: A giant cemetery that has trebled in size to be a last resting place for Turkey’s earthquake victims. Among them is a 15-year-old girl whose father was pictured holding her hand as she lay dead in the ruins in a photograph that shocked the world
Pictured: Simple wooden coffins are seen piled on the side of the road near the cemetery
Mesut Hançer (pictured), 49, touched the hearts of the world when he was photographed tenderly holding the hand of his daughter Irmak while she lay crushed in the ruins of his mother’s apartment. Mesut lost another six family members
But the huge number of earthquake victims has led to thousands of new plots being dug in 100 yard long lines to ensure that the dead can be buried as soon as possible in accordance with Islamic tradition.
MailOnline witnessed a constant stream of ambulances arriving at the cemetery this week to deliver the bodies of victims recovered from the rubble of their homes.
All the new graves, including the one for Irmak, are under freshly turned mounds of red earth, each one marked simply with a wooden post, bearing a number and sometimes the name of the dead person.
Some graves are also marked with simple mementos of a victim, such as items of clothing, children’s toys, Turkish flags and pieces of salvaged memorial stones.
Irmak’s grave at plot number 380 had a slightly larger wooden post with her name written on it in a marker pen, alongside a small branch from a conifer tree stuck in the soil.
Her father who still wears his orange jacket which he wore as held his daughter’s hand in the iconic photograph has been repeatedly visiting her grave in recent days while attending the funerals of his other family members.
Describing her tragic death for the first time, he told how Irmak and six other relatives had died while they were all staying at his mother’s home in Kahramanmaras which was at the epicentre of the earthquake on Monday last week.
Mesut said he was at the bakery where he worked shortly after 4am when he felt the earth shake.
There are 3,000 freshly dug plots in the Kapiçam cemetery outside the city of Kahramanmaras, which was close to the epicentre of last week’s deadly quake
The huge number of earthquake victims has led to thousands of new plots being dug in 100 yard long lines to ensure that the dead can be buried as soon as possible
Pictured: Simple wooden coffins are seen on the side of the road in Turkey
Irmak, 15, was crushed to death when her grandmother’s apartment was destroyed by last week’s earthquake in Turkey. Her father said he tried to dig her free with his bare hands
Pictured: The grab of 15-year-old Irmak is seen at the cemetery in Turkey
In an interview with Bild, he said: ‘I was working in the bakery when the earth trembled. I called my wife. She said that she, my two daughters and my son are safe.’
But his youngest daughter had been on a sleepover on the couch at her grandmother’s home because she wanted to be with her cousins who were also staying there.
Mesut desperately called his mother, but got no reply and ran to her home, saying: ‘I cried out to God, ‘Please let our house be whole…’
When he arrived he found the ten storey block had collapsed, killing Irmak and his mother along with his other relatives.
Mesut said: ‘I tried to dig up my princess with my bare hands. But in the end I had to abandon her to the rubble.’
In another interview with Turkish television station TV100, he told how he did not want to leave her and held on to her hand which was the only part of her body visible under the pile of ruins.
He said: ‘It was very difficult to get rid of the rubble. We asked for a digger, but it was impossible to reach her.
‘The police and gendarmerie arrived at the scene, but they told me they couldn’t send a digger. The rescue team tried to rescue my daughter with their hands. I want to thank them for trying.
‘She had fallen on her back and could not be reached with a spade or other devices.’
Describing how he held her lifeless hand, he added: ‘I didn’t want to leave her. I tried to get her out with my hands, but she was sleeping. She went without pain. God took my daughter.’
Mesut said he was grieving for all his relatives, but he added: ‘The loss of my daughter is breaking my heart… I am living, but I feel dead inside… She was my daughter and my everything, and I lost her.
‘She called me Baba (father). She was like a rose and went smelling like a rose.’
The thousands of new graves in the cemetery where Irmak is buried are in two areas of open ground, partly shaded by pine trees.
MailOnline saw groups of grieving families huddling around the graves of loved ones with some wailing openly in heartbreaking scenes, as others gathered for simple ceremonies to lay victims to rest.
Piles of hastily constructed simple wooden coffins lined the edge of the cemetery in a reminder that many more victims are expected to arrive as the official death toll continues to soar.
Teams of public health officials (pictured) are working at the cemetery to ensure that all the dead are buried with proper respect and dignity after they arrive at the site in black body bags
Pictured: A view of the freshly dug graves at the cemetery in Turkey
Teams of public health officials are working at the cemetery to ensure that all the dead are buried with proper respect and dignity after they arrive at the site in black body bags.
White-suited workers follow Muslim principles by ensuring that victims are washed and dressed in Kefen robes before burial.
One worker Omer Sadik said: ‘Some of the bodies are really bad because they are crushed. They cannot be washed properly so we have to do it symbolically.
‘Everyone has to be treated with proper respect. It is very sad work.’
Parts of the graveyard are also being used to house homeless families in tents supplied by Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD).
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