Hope for survivors fading as death toll in Turkey and Syria quake nears 12,000

Turkish authorities updated the country’s death toll to 8,754 on Wednesday.

People try to reach people trapped under the debris of a collapsed building in Malatya, Turkey (Emrah Gurel/AP)

Hopes of finding more survivors trapped in the rubble of thousands of buildings toppled by a huge earthquake are fading – as the death toll approached 12,000.

Stretched rescue teams have toiled through the night in Turkey and Syria, hunting for signs of life in the aftermath of the world’s deadliest quake in more than a decade.