Antakya, Feb. 18 (BNA): More than 45,000 people were killed in the earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria, and the death toll is expected to rise as 264,000 apartments were destroyed in Turkey and many are still missing in the worst recent disaster in the country.
Eleven days after the earthquake struck, three survivors were pulled from the rubble in Turkey on Friday. Turkey’s death toll reached 39,672, while neighboring Syria reported more than 5,800 deaths. Reuters reported that the death toll in Syria had not changed for days.
Mosques around the world held funeral prayers in absentia on Friday for the dead in Turkey and Syria, many of whom were unable to receive full burial rites due to the severity of the disaster.
While many international rescue teams left the vast quake zone, local teams continued to search the destroyed buildings on Saturday in the hope of finding more survivors who defied the odds. Experts say most rescues happen within 24 hours after an earthquake.
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