Saudi Gazette report

ANKARA — A Saudi woman who went missing in the devastating earthquake that ravaged many regions of Turkey and Syria was found dead in Antakya, Saudi Arabia’s embassy in Turkey announced on Friday.

Speaking to Okaz/Saudi Gazette, Muhammad Al-Harbi, chargé d’affaires at the embassy in Ankara, rescue teams found the missing Saudi citizen under the rubble in one of the collapsed residential buildings in Antakya.

“The search operations were carried out by rescue teams allocated by the Turkish government to the Saudi embassy, and the operations continued for two days in the hope of finding the missing citizen, until her body was reached and found dead in the building where she was located at the moment of the earthquake,” he said.

Al-Harbi confirmed that three of the citizen's daughters identified their mother. “Two daughters arrived from Cyprus and the third came from Saudi Arabia, and the embassy received them in Adana, and they were taken to the site of the accident in Antakya to identify their mother.”

He added: “The journey took 3 hours by car, and as we were heading to the accident location we were informed that their mother was found dead.”

Rescue operations revealed that she died at the moment of the earthquake and the collapse of the building.

Al-Harbi said the late Saudi women had Turkish relatives and lived in Turkey. She was 51 years old. He said her daughters choose to bury their mother in Turkey.