Woman photographed holding hands after Suruç blast survives

Mesude Erşan - ISTANBUL

Çağla Seven, one of the two young injured women photographed holding each other’s hands immediately after the deadly bombing in Turkey’s southeastern town of Suruç, has miraculously survived but sustained serious injuries. 

Seven, 27, a doctor, sustained injuries from more than 100 marbles in the suicide blast, which has sent shockwaves through the country. 

After the blast, she was rushed unconscious to the Ursu Hospital, a private hospital in Şanlıurfa province, of which Suruç is a part. 

At least 32 people were killed and more than 100 others were injured in the July 20 explosion.

“She had more than 100 marbles stuck to her body. Her heart was not beating. She was transfused 14 units of blood before she was unplugged from the respiratory device,” said Mehmet Yazar, the hospital’s chief doctor. 

Seven was transferred late on July 21 to the Istanbul University Medical School Hospital, the hospital of a public medical school in Istanbul from which she graduated.

Her colleague, Zeynep Varol, said Seven was “full of altruistic emotions toward the needy” and had previously gone to Suruç to volunteer in refugee camps. 

As the daughter of a shipyard worker and a housewife, Seven was humble and not arrogant, Varol said, adding that you could “see Çağla wherever people are in need.”

“[Seven] is strong in life. She worked hard throughout her studentship [at the medical school]. And then she knocked door to door in a tremendous effort to call for solidarity [with the people of Suruç],” she said. 

Seven, a music lover who had been taking lessons to play the violin, won a top medical exam making her eligible to specialize in children’s diseases as a doctor, Varol also added.