By The Turkey-Syria earthquake death toll has climbed beyond 20,000 on the fourth day of rescue efforts.
The death toll in Turkey rose to 18,342 on Friday morning, the emergency management agency said. The number of people injured rose to 74,242.
In Syria, already devastated by nearly 12 years of civil war, more than 3200 people have died, according to the government and a rescue service in the rebel-held north-west.
There have been 1509 aftershocks since Monday’s initial 7.8 magnitude quake, the Turkish agency added.
Before dawn in Gaziantep, near the quake’s epicentre, rescuers pulled Adnan Muhammed Korkut from the basement where had been trapped since Monday. The 17-year-old beamed a smile at the crowd of friends and relatives who chanted “Adnan, Adnan”, clapping and crying as he was carried out and put onto a stretcher.
A two-year-old boy was also rescued from the rubble of a building that collapsed in the southern city of Antakya, 79 hours after the massive strike.
Hundreds of thousands were left homeless by the earthquakes centred in southern Turkey, having to endure cold weather and a lack of resources, with hopes fading of many more people being found alive in the ruins.
The death toll across both countries has surpassed more than the 17,000 killed in a quake in Turkey in 1999.
