Turkish quake death toll rises to 13

Turkish rescue workers search for survivors in the rubble of a collapsed hotel in Van, Turkey, Thursday. Rescuers have pulled out 28 survivors from the rubble of three buildings, collapsed by an earthquake in Van, authorities said. AP

VAN, Turkey—Rescue workers pulled out the body of another quake victim on Friday, increasing the death toll in Turkey’s latest deadly temblor to at least 13, including a Japanese aid worker who came to Turkey in the aftermath of a devastating earthquake last month.

Aksit Dayi, a senior disaster management official, said the body of a middle-aged man was recovered under one of the two collapsed hotels, Bayram Hotel, in the eastern city of Van. That discovery brought the death toll to at least 13. The man was believed to be inside the office of an intercity bus company underneath the hotel.

“We are not able to hear any voice,” of a survivor, said Dayi. “But still we are removing layers of concrete in a way as if there are survivors. We are working on the third floor now.”

Relatives of missing people huddled around campfires near the wreckage of the once five-story Bayram Hotel as they waited for news from their loved ones throughout the night despite bitter cold as aid workers from nearby cities provided hot drinks.

It was not clear how many people were still under the rubble of that hotel but among them were believed to be two Turkish journalists with the local Dogan news agency.

“We hope to finish our search by midnight Friday at the latest,” Dayi said.

The hotels, apparently weakened by last month’s magnitude-7.2 earthquake, came down Wednesday night when a magnitude-5.6 quake shook the area as many accused authorities of failing to properly inspect the buildings following the Oct. 23 quake that killed more than 600 people.

Japanese aid worker Atsushi Miyazaki who came to Turkey in the aftermath of last month’s earthquake to assess damage and distribute relief supplies to survivors, also became a victim of Turkey’s treacherous fault lines on Thursday, when he died in a hospital soon after he was pulled out injured from the rubble of the Bayram Hotel.

Miyazaki’s 32-year-old female colleague, Miyuki Konnai, was rescued alive from the wreckage of the same hotel late Wednesday. She was in stable condition and was transferred to the Turkish capital of Ankara for treatment for bruises following the quake as well as a prolonged flu.

“There is nothing to be scared of,” said Murat Bozkurt, head physician of the Ataturk Training and Research Hospital. “Her condition is quite well.”