Powerful earthquake in Turkey: 22 dead, dozens of people under the rubble

Authorities said at least 22 people were killed and more than a thousand were injured in a powerful earthquake in eastern Turkey, reports with the BBC.

Фото: Depositphotos

An earthquake center of magnitude 6,8 was located in the area of ​​the city of Sivridge in the province of Elazig at a depth of 6,7 km. The earthquake led to the collapse of buildings and forced residents to leave their homes.

“The death toll from the Elazig earthquake has risen to 18, with 405 people injured in [the province of] Elazig and another 148 in [the neighboring province of] Malatya. We are doing everything possible to rescue the 30 people trapped under the destroyed building,” Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said earlier (quoted by Daily Sabah).

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Later, the number of victims increased to 22, with more than a thousand injured. Speaking at the same press conference, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said that medical assistance is currently being provided to 128 people injured due to the collapse of houses, 34 of them are in serious condition.

It is reported that the earthquake occurred at about 20:55 and lasted 15 seconds. The magnitude of the repetitive shocks was from 5,4 to 3,3 points.

The television footage shows how rescuers are looking for survivors under the rubble of destroyed buildings.

170 additional ambulances and medical helicopters were sent to the provinces of Elazig and Malatya, said Minister of Health Fahrettin Koja.

Hundreds of trucks with humanitarian aid - food, medicine, blankets and tents - have been sent to the affected areas. The temperature in that area drops below zero at night.

Tremors were also felt in Syria, Lebanon and Iran.

Earthquakes are not a rare occurrence in Turkey. In 1999, about 17 thousand people died as a result of a magnitude 7,6 earthquake in the city of Izmit.

The area affected by the earthquake is located about 550 km east of Ankara. This is a sparsely populated area, and information about victims may be delayed.

Sivrije is a city with a population of about 4 thousand people, it is considered a popular tourist destination on the shores of Lake Hazar, the source of the Tigris River.

State television channel TRT broadcasts reports from the province of Elazig in the morning on Saturday, where rescuers tried to extract victims from the ruins of a collapsed four-story residential building all night.

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Rescuers dismantled the rubble with their bare hands, later construction equipment arrived at the site.

“Our houses have collapsed, we can’t enter them,” said a 32-year-old resident of the town of Sivrije, where the earthquake’s epicenter is marked.

“There are dead in our village,” said a young man named Sinasi. “Animals died, and people spent the night near fires, trying to keep warm.”

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