Rescue workers in Turkey losing hope

Rescue workers, searching for dozens of children in the rubble of a Turkish school dormitory that collapsed during an earthquake, all but gave up hope of finding any more survivors this afternoon.

In a sign that there were few chances of finding survivors at the dormitory, rescuers began using cranes and other heavy equipment to lift the debris in Celtiksuyu.

Ahmet Aydin, in charge of the emergency centre at the site, said dogs and electronic equipment were no longer picking up any signs of life, but insisted that the rescue mission was continuing. Some relatives tried to block the rescuers from using the cranes.

“This is still a search and rescue operation,” Aydin said.

By midday, 32 pupils were still missing after 117 were rescued and 49 found dead, rescue officials said. The children, aged seven to 16, were mostly sons of poor Kurdish farmers.

The confirmed death toll from Thursday’s quake rose to 115 today, according to officials. About 1,000 people were injured.

One boy, Enef Gunce, was rescued from the school dormitory this morning after spending more than 30 hours under the debris. Weary rescuers applauded as Gunce, apparently with only slight injuries, was quickly put in an ambulance.

But some relatives were beginning to lose hope.

“I have been sitting here since yesterday morning,” said Gazal Gunalan, whose 15-year-old son Mehmet was buried under the rubble. “I was expecting him to come out alive ... now I’m waiting for his body.”

The quake’s epicentre was just outside Bingol, a poor, rural area 430 miles east of Ankara.

In villages across the area, graves were dug for the pupils killed in the quake.

At a funeral in the village of Karderslerkoyu, farmers screamed as they lifted the white burial shroud that covered the chubby face and blonde hair of 14-year-old Erhan Berk, found dead in the school’s debris today.

The school building’s collapse again focused attention on poor construction methods that have been blamed for heavy death tolls in previous quakes in Turkey.

Nihat Ozdemir, head of the Turkish Contractors’ Union, said contractors were not being inspected carefully, while the prime minister vowed to prosecute those responsible for shoddy construction.

Much of the country sits atop the active North Anatolian fault and tremors are frequent. A 1971 quake in Bingol killed 900 people.

Thousands were left homeless and angry demonstrators protesting the lack of tents, food and water clashed with police in Bingol, the main city hit by the quake.

Police fired into the air with automatic rifles after hundreds of protesters attacked police cars and anti-riot vehicles. Some protesters ripped large stones from the paved streets and threw them at the governor’s building.

At least five policemen and three journalists were injured and scores were detained, Bingol governor Huseyin Avni Cos said.

An angry crowd kicked and punched several reporters outside the governor’s office, accusing them of being biased against them, before soldiers pushed them back.