THE rescue of a two-week-old baby girl, her mother and grandmother from the rubble of Turkey’s devastating earthquake has encouraged emergency crews as their search stretched into a fourth day.

Crowds cheered and applauded as tiny Azra Karaduman was lifted free from the wreckage of the family home in the eastern town of Ercis on Tuesday, followed by her mother Seniha and 73-year-old grandmother Gulzade.

As the death toll reached 459 and the Red Crescent warned that hundreds or even thousands of people remained buried under the debris from Sunday’s quake, the triple rescue provided vital relief amid the otherwise grim task.

Later on Tuesday, rescuers managed to save a 10-year-old boy from the wreckage of his house in the city center of Van, more than 54 hours after the quake hit.

“Hundreds, possibly thousands of people are still trapped under the rubble,” said Jessica Sallabank, a spokeswoman for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).

The IFRC said that 2,256 buildings — mostly apartments — were destroyed during the quake, which struck Sunday afternoon with its epicenter in the eastern province of Van.

An update from emergency services put the death toll at 459, with more than 1,350 injured.(SD-Agencies)

Captions:

Quake survivors sit on a street after the earthquake in Ercis, Van Province, on Tuesday.

A Turkish rescue worker scrambles through the rubble in search of survivors in a collapsed building in Van Province on Tuesday.

People cry for the loss of family members in Van Province on Tuesday.

Residents wait for aid on a street in Ercis on Tuesday.

Omer Gulgeldi (R), 16, helps his brother Salih Gulgeldi (C), 25, collect belongings from Salih’s collapsed house in Guvecli on Tuesday.

Earthquake survivors Azra, a 14-day-old baby girl, and her mother Seniha Karaduman (R) lie in an ambulance plane on a flight to Ankara on Tuesday.