Türkiye, Syria quake toll nears 42,000 10 days after disaster hit

The number of people killed in a devastating earthquake that struck the Türkiye-Syria border area neared 42,000 on Thursday, as search and rescue efforts continued 10 days later. In Türkiye alone 36,187 people died across 11 provinces, state news agency Anadolu cited disaster authority AFAD as saying. Combined with the deaths in Syria, the total confirmed toll is 41,838. The first quake of magnitude 7.7 struck Türkiye and Syria in the early hours of February 6; another large tremor hit at noon that day and there have been more than 3,800 aftershocks, AFAD said late Wednesday. Over 50,000 buildings have been damaged in Türkiye alone. More than 100,000 people were injured, and about 13,200 of them are still being treated in hospital, AFAD said. Turkish and foreign rescue teams continued their efforts despite the minimal chances of finding survivors. Late on Wednesday, a 13-year-old boy named Mustafa was pulled from the rubble in Antakya, the capital of Hatay province, 228 hours after the deadly jolt hit, the Istanbul city emergency service has said. NATO Secretary Stoltenberg is due to meet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu on Thursday and to visit areas affected by the earthquake. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected in Türkiye on Sunday.