The dog heroes and rescuers who searched for survivors under the rubble in Türkiye

Hera, Nord, Niko, Bergo and Max are the five dogs of the Mountain Rescue Service in Bulgaria that took part in the search for people in the rubble of the collapsed buildings after the earthquakes in Türkiye. In recent days, they have become a symbol of heroism, having managed to save several lives in extremely difficult conditions.

Hera is 3 years and 7 months old. Almost since birth she has been serving in the Mountain Rescue Service. Thanks to her, 5 lives were saved in just one day in Türkiye. Hera alerts her handler Blagoy that she picks up a human smell.

Blagoy Maksimov: "It was on a collapsed building, very big and there were 100 people. Everybody was digging, everybody praying to find survivors, trying with instruments, searching for signs of human breath. When you see people's joy in the eyes of loved ones, this is something irreplaceable."

Atanas Ukov: "These moments are extremely emotional and as colleagues have said, you see that it was worth all the effort to train these dogs and care for them."

The mountain rescuers and their dogs worked for 6 days around the clock. People worried whether the animals would withstand the physical pain. But they didn't give up looking for life under the rubble.

Blagoy Maksimov: "The dog was walking, even though it had injuries on his legs, and was coping. I was helping, giving her courage, strength and confidence."

Atanas Ukov: "We have not seen them work so motivated, so long and so enthusiastically. The first two days we didn't know day, night, hour, we just let the dogs work and at some point we stopped for some rests."

Lubcho Jolev: "The dogs showed what we went for. The hard work we have put in all these years, even if you save one human life is still enough. We saved many.

Blagoy Maksimov: We all gave the best we could give, we left our hearts at the ruins, we didn't stop working, we didn't give up. The dogs performed the way we expected them to. Because we trust them as much as they trust us."

The dogs of the Mountain Rescue Service have been trained from puppies how to react in a crisis situation. And although they are well trained and obey their handler's commands, they love cuddles.

Blagoy Maksimov: "Hera is a very sociable dog, she loves people, she loves to be around them, she has been around children since she was a puppy. And when you treat her with kindness, she returns that in spades".

At Mountain Rescue, the dogs are fed kibble to maintain an athletic body. And they're only given meat on very special occasions, Blagoy says with a smile, saying he'll reward Hera with steaks.

Blagoy Maksimov: "I'll give her steaks. She gets them."

At the moment the dogs need some rest and more walks in nature. Then they'll go back to work - to rescue people.