Death toll in Aegean Sea earthquake rises to 116 as rescuers finish search of buildings
- Of the 1,035 people injured in the quake, 137 remained in hospital on Wednesday
- Authorities have detained nine people, including contractors, for questioning over the collapse of six buildings
The death toll in last week’s Aegean Sea earthquake rose to 116 on Wednesday as rescuers in the Turkish city of Izmir finished searching buildings that collapsed in the quake.
All but two of the victims were killed in Izmir, Turkey’s third-largest city. Two teenagers died on the Greek island of Samos, which lies south of the epicentre of Friday’s earthquake. The US Geological Survey registered the quake’s magnitude at 7.0, although other agencies recorded it as less severe.
Mehmet Gulluoglu, head of Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency, said search and rescue operations had been completed at 17 buildings that fell in Izmir. The rescue operation has been roaring at full tilt since October 30, pulling 107 survivors from the rubble.
Of the 1,035 people injured in the quake, 137 remained in hospital on Wednesday, the agency added.
Following a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday evening, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan pledged not to give up until the final person was recovered. Rescuers’ spirits were raised Tuesday when they pulled a 3-year-old girl from the wreckage of her family home 91 hours after the quake.
