Erdogan: Earthquake deaths worst in Turkey’s modern history

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has announced that 35.418 people have died as a result of last week’s quakes, making the deadliest such disaster since the country’s founding 100 years ago.

The massive Erzincan earthquake in 1939 resulted in the deaths of around 33,000 people.

Erdogan said there had been 105,505 people injured as a result of the Feb. 6 quakes centered around Kahramanmaras.

Erdogan was speaking in Ankara following a five-hour Cabinet meeting held at the headquarters of disaster agency AFAD.

Meanwhile, a 65-year-old Syrian man and a young girl were rescued from the rubble of a building in the southern Turkish city of Antakya, 208 hours after a devastating earthquake struck the region, Reuters television showed.

Emergency workers hoped further family members would be pulled out alive soon. The pair’s rescue takes the number of survivors pulled from ruins on Tuesday to nine. [AP, Reuters]