ANKARA: Over 300 people are dead and several hundred more injured after a huge earthquake struck south-eastern Turkey, near the Syrian border on Monday.
Early statements from officials in Turkey and Syria put the death toll at more than 300, but that is likely to rise, BBC reported.
Rescuers are racing to save people trapped beneath the rubble after hundreds of buildings collapsed in both countries.
Turkey has declared a state of emergency and urges people not to use mobile phones to allow rescuers to co-ordinate, according to BBC.
The 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck in the early hours of Monday and dozens of aftershocks have been felt in the hours since.
Millions of people across Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Cyprus and Israel felt the earthquake – the epicentre was near the Turkish city of Gaziantep.
(Inputs from BBC)
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