Children trapped as quake rocks Turkey

A strong earthquake today killed at least 30 people in south-eastern Turkey and toppled a school dormitory, trapping up to 200 students under debris, officials said.

Some 50 children were rescued from the wreckage of the dormitory in Bingol, 430 miles east of Ankara, said Sevket Turan, an official with Bingol municipality.

Crews were working to rescue up to 200 primary and middle school students still buried under the school, he said.

Private television CNN-Turk said the three-storey dormitory had completely collapsed. Mr Turan said about 250 students were in the boarding school at the time of the quake.

The earthquake measuring 6.4 on the Richter Scale struck the region around 3.27am local time (1.27am Irish time) and was centred just outside Bingol, the Kandilli seismology centre in Istanbul said.

At least 30 people were killed, more than 300 injured and hundreds of homes were destroyed in the quake, Mr Turan said.

Bingol Mayor Feyzullah Karaaslan said he feared the death toll could rise dramatically.

“As the hours go by, the news from Bingol gets more sad. We estimate the death toll to be around 150, there are about 300 injured,” he said, adding that soldiers were on their way from the capital Ankara to help with the rescue operations.

Rescue officials were still unable to reach many villages in the area, officials said.

Doctors at Bingol’s state hospital said 11 dead and more than 200 injured had been brought to the hospital so far.

Ten were in a serious condition, said Ilhan Cokabay, chief doctor at Bingol.

“We need every kind of help,” Dr Cokabay said. “Medical supplies, people, whatever.”

The town of Cimenli was one of the hardest hit, reports said.

“Everything is destroyed. There are no buildings standing,” Nihat Bartamay, who was helping the rescue effort in Cimenli, told private television NTV.

He said he pulled 13 bodies out of several collapsed homes.

The quake was also felt in the nearby provinces of Erzincan, Tunceli, Bingol, Erzurum, Kayseri and Sivas.

Hundreds of people were roaming the streets of Cimenli, and TV footage showed dozens of mud homes destroyed.

A number of strong aftershocks struck the area, including one measuring 5, NTV reported.

“The quake lasted 17 seconds and we think that it was a quake which could cause considerable damage,” Gulay Barbarasoglu, head of the observatory, told Turkish state television.

The quake damaged power and telephone lines in the area and cut off electricity. Mobile phone services also appeared to be out in Bingol.

A magnitude-6 quake can cause severe damage.

Earthquakes are frequent in Turkey, which lies on the active North Anatolian fault.

Ruptures in the fault caused two quakes in August 1999 that killed some 18,000 people and devastated large parts of northwestern Turkey.