At Least 75 Killed, Many More Trapped and Injured After Magnitude 7.2 Quake Rocks Eastern Turkey

AFP Photo

At least 75 people were reported killed and many more feared trapped in collapsed buildings after a magnitude 7.2 earthquake jolted the mountainous province of Van in southeastern Turkey on Sunday.

Up to 30 buildings collapsed in Ercis, including a dormitory, and 10 buildings collapsed in Van, Deputy Prime Minister Besir Atalay said.

Rescuers in Ercis scrambled to find survivors in a flattened eight-story building that had shops on the ground floor, television footage showed. Residents sobbed outside the ruins, hoping that missing relatives would be rescued.

"My wife and child are inside! My 4-month-old baby is inside!" CNN-Turk television showed one young man crying.

Witnesses said eight people were rescued from the rubble, but frequent aftershocks were hampering search efforts, CNN-Turk reported.

"There are so many dead. Several buildings have collapsed. There is too much destruction," Zulfikar Arapoglu, the mayor of Ercis, told NTV television. "We need urgent aid. We need medics."

The quake's epicenter was in the village of Tabanli, 10 miles from Van.

Between the aftershocks and the number of people feared trapped in some of the collapsed buildings, the death toll is expected to rise. Authorities had no word on damages or casualties from the remote villages in the region, but local officials beginning to assess damage via helicopter.