Girl’s decision to save her bird saves her life instead

İZMİR - Demirören News Agency

A pet budgerigar named Şanslı, which means “lucky” in Turkish, becomes a reason for saving the life of a 16-year-old girl, Özge Tekçi, who said that she owes her life to the bird for those 10 seconds that she took to reach the bird while attempting to escape the building when tremors began in the western province of İzmir on Oct. 30.

“When the earthquake hit, I ran to the next room to take Şanslı’s cage and started running down from the fifth floor. Those 10 seconds I spent to reach Şanslı saved my life,” said Tekçi.

According to the teenager, the building collapsed when she was on the third floor.

“If I hadn’t spent those 10 seconds to save Şanslı, I would be on the second floor when the building turned to ruins and would have been dead.”

Tekçi told the story of her coming back to life, saying, “I was beneath the rubble, then I saw light coming from the stairwell. I crawled toward the light in the hope to come out in the open.”

When asked, “What happened to Şanslı?” Tekçi told another “happy ending.”

“I told my survival story to a rescue team member. He asked me about the color of my bird. I said, ‘Did you find its dead body?’ He smiled and helped me come together with my Şanslı.”