The body of another boy was pulled out of the rubble overnight on Thursday, reports in the north said about the third Turkish Cypriot victim identified after the devastating earthquake in Adiyaman earlier in the week.
Meanwhile, a Cypriot rescue team is also expected to depart within day to go aid in the humanitarian efforts in Turkey, the civil defence said.
The boy, Doruk Akin, was pulled from the rubble overnight, while the bodies of two teachers, Pamir Konuklu and Ibrahim Yakula, were pulled from the rubble earlier.
Several Turkish Cypriots in the north have changed their profile pictures to black in light of the tragedy that is unfolding and that concerns a group of some 35 Turkish Cypriots that had been staying at the Isias hotel in Adiyaman for a volleyball competition.
The group was comprised of students from the Famagusta secondary school, which have been trapped under the rubble for almost four days.
Also on Thursday, Turkish Cypriot Ahmet Aksunlar started a crowdfunding campaign collecting donations for victims of the earthquake in both Turkey and Syria.
“We, as the Cypriot youth across the divide, are uniting to support this humanitarian crisis, and help the relief efforts in the region,” he wrote on the campaign website.
“We have selected two organisations to donate the funds, based on their trustworthiness and experience working in the specific locations for rescue, relief and material and medical aid.”
The donations will go to Turkey’s Ahbap, a natural disaster management group, and the White Helmets in Syria.
The campaign can be found at https:/gogetfunding.com/cypriot-youth-earthquake-fundraiser/.
Following the discovery of the child’s body, the north said that it has set up psychological counselling teams for those affected by the earthquake.
Meanwhile, people will also be able to donate goods to earthquake victims in Cyprus until next Friday, as part of the EU Civil Defence effort under way.
Donations of goods will be made in all districts across Cyprus.
Municipalities in the north are also collecting items to send to victims of the earthquake in Turkey.
A Cypriot team, which has been given the green light by Turkey on Wednesday, is also set to be leaving later in the day on Thursday.
According to the spokesman of the civil defence, Panayiotis Liasides, an aircraft from Romania will be landing in Cyprus to pick up the team in the next few hours.
The team consists of 17 people, 15 rescuers, plus a doctor and a nurse.
Liasides said that the team will remain in Turkey for seven days, but if further assistance is required, additional crews will arrive.
“We are waiting for the European Civil Protection Mechanism, which coordinates all efforts with local authorities, to tell us whether they will need us for more days,” he said.
Speaking about the Adiyaman quake on Wednesday, which trapped the Turkish Cypriot students under the hotel, one of the survivors Berna Tavis said that the hotel fell like “a house of cards.”
Commenting on the phone in a television show, Tanis said that she was rescued alone with the help of her friends. She had seen the children and had been told they were volleyball players, she added.
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