The death toll in Turkey following Monday’s earthquake has risen to 21,043, according to the country’s President Tayyip Erdogan.
Some 3,553 people are reported to have died in Syria, according to the AFP news agency, bringing the combined number of deaths across both regions to 24,596.
Meanwhile, rescue teams in Turkey have pulled to safety a family of five who survived inside their collapsed home for five days.
Rescuers first extricated mother and daughter Havva and Fatmagul Aslan from among a mound of debris in the town of Nurdag, in Gaziantep province, HaberTurk reported.
The teams later reached the father, Hasan Aslan, but he insisted that his other daughter, Zeynep, and son Saltik Bugra be saved first.
As the father was brought out, rescuers cheered and chanted “God is Great!”
The dramatic rescue after 129 hours brings to at least nine the number of people rescued Saturday, despite diminishing hopes amid freezing temperatures.
