Rescue teams reach quake-hit Turkish province: Prime Minister's Office

Rescue teams reach quake-hit Turkish province: Prime Minister's Office

A total of 275 rescue teams from 38 Turkish provinces have reached the quake-hit Van province in southeast Turkey, Turkey's TRT television reported Sunday, quoting the country's Prime Minister's Office.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is visiting the quake-stricken area to assess the situation, is expected to give a speech to the nation soon, the report said.

Turkish private Dogan news agency reported that 85 Turks were killed in the strong earthquake, 25 bodies found in Van city of Van province, 59 bodies in Ercis town, the worst hit in the quake, and another in Adlicevaz town of Bitlis province nearby.

The report said that more than 500 people were injured in the quake and the death toll may increase.

More than 17 aftershocks, including a 5.1-magnitude tremor, had happened, it said.

The Turkish earthquake observatory said Sunday the death toll from the powerful 7.2-magnitude quake in the southeastern province of Van could reach 1,000.

"The toll from this earthquake could be 500 to 1,000," said Prof. Mustafa Erdik, head of the Kandilli Observatory and Earthquake Research Institute in Turkey's largest city of Istanbul.

The Istanbul-based Kandilli seismology center originally put the earthquake's magnitude at 6.6 on the Richter scale, but later revised it up to 7.2.

Editor: Mu Xuequan

English.news.cn   2011-10-24 05:41:47 FeedbackPrintRSS
ANKARA, Oct. 23 (Xinhua)