The desperate search for earthquake survivors in Türkiye continues relentlessly as rescuers dig through the rubble and manage to pull out people alive even after a week has passed in subzero temperatures since the tremors pulverized thousands of blocks in the country’s southeast last week.

The first rescues of Tuesday morning were in Kahramanmaraş province, the epicenter of the 7.7 magnitude earthquake.

Muhammed Enes Yeninar, a 17-year-old boy and his brother Abdülbaki, were pulled alive from the wreckage of their apartment building around 198 hours after the earthquake.

Muhammed Enes, who was the first to be freed from the rubble of an eight-story building, told crews there were more survivors trapped under the mound of debris.

Soon, his brother Abdülbaki was evacuated from the rubble. The duo was trapped on the fifth floor of the building.

Muhammed Enes appeared in better health, murmuring he was "fine" as he was taken to an ambulance for medical treatment.

Their uncle told reporters at the scene that both were doing fine.

In an exclusive interview later in the day, the brothers confirmed they were in good shape.

According to Abdülbaki, boxes of protein powder, which Muhammed Enes had to boost his bodybuilding efforts, kept the brothers alive in the wreckage for the duration of their confinement.

Muhammed Enes said he and Abdülbaki cried for the first two days, then chatted about their brotherly relationship while they waited for rescue under the wreckage.

"I felt at ease. I knew I would be saved. I just prayed," Abdülbaki told journalists from a hospital bed.

Thanks to an opening in the concrete, Abdülbaki and his brother were able to breathe the whole time. "I haven’t breathed air that fresh in my life as that air in the rubble," he recalled.

Once the brothers were evacuated, Muhammed Enes kept asking for their mother who was pulled alive two days before them and was transferred to a hospital in Kayseri province.

The rescue of the brothers was heartening for the whole country as citizens mourn the thousands who perished in the "deadliest disaster of the century."

Another Muhammed, this time in Adıyaman province, was rescued from the rubble around the same time as the brothers in Kahramanmaraş.

The 18-year-old Muhammed Cafer Çetin was discovered in the debris of a seven-story apartment building and was taken to a hospital.

Rescue workers, however, including coal miners who secured tunnels with wooden supports, kept digging through mounds of concrete and dirt to free Muhammed Cafer’s mother and brother who were still stuck in the rubble.

Later on Tuesday, some 201 hours into the aftermath, one more remarkable rescue took place in Hatay province as workers discovered a 26-year-old woman in the wreckage.

Emine Akgül, reportedly a teacher, was saved by miners from Zonguldak and other rescue workers and was immediately taken to a hospital.

Only two hours later, another woman, 40-years-old, was rescued from the rubble.

The joy of finding more survivors is expected to increase later in the day as rescuers kept digging to save three sisters from another wreckage in Kahramanmaraş, according to local sources.

Earlier on Monday also in Hatay, teams cheered and clapped when a 13-year-old boy identified only by his first name, Kaan, was pulled from the rubble 182 hours after the quakes. "Please, squeeze my hand, Kaan. Look how many people have come to save you," one rescuer told the boy as the crews dug an artery around him.

Kaan did not let go of his rescuer’s hand while he was carried to the ambulance, making nearby onlookers emotional.

Around the same time in the same city, another survivor, 67-year-old Hüseyin Berber was freed from the debris following hours of digging.

Citizens rejoiced another miracle when rescuers saved a 10-year-old girl from the wreckage of an 11-storeyed building in Kahramanmaraş 185 hours into the aftermath. Ayça Çebni was found with her mother and was in a good condition overall, officials on-site reported.

Over in Adıyaman province, one more girl, 7-year-old Hivay Üşer, was rescued 178 hours following the tremors.

A video shared by Health Minister Fahrettin Koca on Twitter showed the little girl asking medical teams tending to her for "strawberry milk and a hot bun."

Stories of such rescues have been abundant in recent days but tens of thousands have been found dead during the same period and the wait continues for countless others who are anxiously standing by their destroyed homes for a sign from their loved ones. Experts say the window for rescues has nearly closed, given the length of time that has passed and the severity of building collapses.

The 7.7 magnitude earthquake and its aftershocks that struck southeastern Türkiye and northern Syria on Feb. 6, reducing huge swaths of towns and cities to mountains of broken concrete and twisted metal. The death toll has surpassed 31,000, with more than 80,000 injured.

Nearly 20 million have been affected by the disaster and the number of rescues has topped 8,000, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said speaking early on Tuesday.

Efforts, however, are still underway to find more survivors, as people, encouraged by rescues as late as this week’s, hold on to a glimmer of hope.