The 7.8-magnitude earthquake in southern Turkey and Syria has killed nearly 47,000 people, including 41,020 in Turkey, according to the latest official toll released Sunday by the government’s relief agency (AFAD), cited by the Anadolu news agency.
In Syria, the death toll has been put at 5,900, but the count there is still more approximate than in Turkey. Turkey announced on Sunday that it was halting the majority of searches.
“In many provinces, the search efforts have ended. They are continuing in the provinces of Kahramanmaras and Hatay – in about 40 buildings,” said Yunus Sezer, the head of the government’s rescue agency, AFAD.
In addition to the more than 265,000 Turkish rescue workers, nearly 11.500 rescue workers from abroad have joined the search and rescue efforts, according to the foreign ministry.
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No new survivors have been pulled from the ruins for more than 24 hours, after a couple was rescued in Antakya, capital of Hatay province, on Saturday, 296 hours after the quake.
In the past three days, seven people have been pulled alive from the rubble, all in Antakya, including the couple’s child, who succumbed shortly after being rescued.
