Mehmet survived. But it took 76 hours before rescuers could pull him from the mound of concrete and twisted metal that remained of his home. Later in hospital, doctors determined that his legs were so badly crushed and injured, both needed to be amputated just below the hip.

Hearing of the earthquake in London where he lived and worked, Mehmet's father, Hasan, caught the next available flight to Turkey and travelled to Hatay, in the southeast, desperate for news of his family.

The 58-year-old encountered a scene of utter destruction in the city and learned his wife and elder son had not survived, but Mehmet was alive and trapped. He stood vigil by the rubble with other relatives.

Hasan could not speak to his son himself, but passed messages to a teenage neighbour, Hayrettin, trapped closer to the surface, whose words could reach Mehmet, and who talked to him to keep him awake as rescuers came closer.

Speaking in hospital in Turkey last February, Mehmet said "I was yelling 'help.' Our neighbour Hayrettin was telling me when to yell and I was yelling for help when he told me to."