Boy found alive in Turkey rubble

Kalem is the first survivor to be rescued since Tuesday

A 16-year-old boy has been pulled alive from the rubble of a building which collapsed in Turkey six days ago.

Local media said Muhammet Kalem survived because he was trapped in an air pocket between concrete blocks.

At least 66 people are known to have died in the collapse, in the central city of Konya on Monday.

Rescuers are working to find dozens of people believed to be still buried, though chances of finding anyone else alive are thought to be very slim.

Three more bodies were also pulled out on Sunday morning.

'I saw his eyes'

Muhammet is the first person to be found alive in the debris since Tuesday. He had survived for five days and 11 hours without food or water.

I kept saying to myself, 'They're coming to save me' - I cried out non-stop, I heard rescuers' voices from afar, and they gradually came closer Muhammet Kalem

His appearance was greeted with loud applause by relatives.

Anatolia news agency said he was in good health and was taken immediately to hospital.

Rescuers said he drew attention to himself by wiggling his end of a plastic pipe.

"When I looked down from an opening, I saw his eyes. It was amazing. I can't even say how happy I am," rescuer Omer Cevikbas told Turkish TV.

Muhammet described his escape later from hospital: "I kept saying to myself, 'They're coming to save me'.

"I cried out non-stop. I heard [rescuers'] voices from afar, and they gradually came closer."

His father said he had already prepared a grave for Muhammet, but now he was hoping for news of his wife and other son who are also buried under the rubble.

The BBC's Steve Bryant in Turkey says the rescue is a bright spot in a depressingly common tale in Turkey.

Sandy concrete

The country is prone to earthquakes and the law demands high standards from builders, our correspondent says, but the building codes seem rarely enforced and earthquakes regularly demolish lethal apartment blocks built on the cheap.

In Konya, there was not even a tremor - the building simply collapsed. Rescue workers on the site say the concrete was sandy and crumbled in their hands.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who visited the scene, vowed to punish those responsible. Two contractors have already been detained.

The block of about 40 flats was home to some 140 people, but many may have had families staying for the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha.

Among rescuers' discoveries have been the crushed bodies of entire families, according to CNN-Turk television station.

At least 25 residents were not in the building when it collapsed.