The most terrifying experience... ever

FLASHBACK... Home from the Turkey hell — Jacqueline Spence Paul Taylor and Robert Hicks

THE horrors of the Turkish earthquake brought back terrifying memories for rugby league ref Robert Hicks.

He was a 17-year-old student visiting Izmit in the west of the country when a 7.2 magnitude quake struck in August, 1999.

An astonishing 17,480 people were killed in the disaster which happened while Robert, then head boy at Hulme Grammar School, was on a Rotary youth exchange trip with Blue Coat sixth-formers Jacqueline Spence and Paul Taylor

Robert, from Shaw, was in a city-centre apartment with the father of his host family when the quake struck.

He said: “I remember waking up and everything was falling down around us. The father helped me get out, grabbed me and dragged me down the stairway. Just after we got out a second tremor struck and the building collapsed. It is the most terrifying experience I have ever had.

“I just remember being extremely thankful for being here.”

The rest of the family were at their main home outside Istanbul which was also severely damaged. Robert, now a Super League referee, then travelled to Ankara with them before flying home.

“A lot of the districts of Istanbul were badly affected, they just couldn’t survive the tremors. The place was pretty much devastated,” he said.

“I don’t know how it compares this time. There were certainly people trapped under buildings.”

The 30-year-old is a solicitor with the Ruby Football League and has a six-month-old son Charlie. He lost touch with his Turkish host family several years ago but added: “I was impressed at how the people I was with, the community around, all pulled together to help one another. You live in a daze. It was only when I came back afterwards that I started to think about it and realise how lucky we were.”

A least 550 people are confirmed to have been killed in the 7.2 magnitude quake which hit eastern Turkey on Sunday, October 23.

A 13-year-old boy was pulled out alive on Friday after he spent more than 100 hours trapped under the rubble. This followed the dramatic rescue of two-week-old baby Azra‚ whose name means “help” in Hebrew.