RESCUE WORKERS HAVE pulled out 23 survivors from the rubble of three buildings, collapsed by an earthquake in eastern Turkey, the country’s disaster management authority said Thursday. At least seven were killed and dozens of others trapped.
Deputy Prime Minister Besir Atalay said Wednesday’s quake toppled 25 buildings in the city of Van but only three of them were occupied since the others have been evacuated after suffering damages in last month’s powerful temblor. The magnitude-5.7 quake was a grim replay of the previous magnitude-7.2 earthquake that hit on October 23, killing more than 600 people.
Rescue workers speeded up their search for survivors by daylight on Thursday, trying to open tunnels into the debris, CNN-Turk television reported. The workers used the glare of high-powered lights to work throughout the night despite several aftershocks.
Atalay said Thursday that the rescue work was concentrating at the site of two collapsed hotels and one apartment building. The disaster management authority said 23 survivors were pulled out along with the bodies of seven people.
One of the collapsed buildings was the Bayram Hotel, Van’s best-known hotel. It was at least 40 years old, and had been renovated last year.
Some of the guests were journalists who were covering the aftermath of the previous temblor, which left thousands homeless and led a number of countries to send tents, blankets and other supplies to assist Turkey in the aid effort.
Turkey’s Dogan news agency said two of its reporters were missing.
Some foreign rescue workers who scrambled to help the survivors of the previous quake were also staying at the same hotel.
Ozgur Gunes, a cameraman for Turkey’s Cihan news agency, told Haber Turk television that some trapped journalists had sent text messages to colleagues asking to be rescued.
He had left the hotel before the quake, but rushed back to collect his camera after it struck, only to find that the building toppled.
“There was dust everywhere and the hotel was flattened,” he said. He told Sky Turk television that the building had some small cracks before the quake, but that he and other guests were told that there was no structural damage.
This video shows the chaos around the hotel in the aftermath of the quake:
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