At least 84 people were killed and more than 100 children were trapped under the rubble of a boarding school after a powerful earthquake struck eastern Turkey early today.
Industry and Trade Minister Mr Ali Coskun said at least 84 people were confirmed dead and 390 injured in the quake, which hit the mainly Kurdish province of Bingol during the night. It measured 6.4 on the Richter scale.
Officials had earlier suggested the death toll would top 100. Mr Coskun said 118 primary school children were buried under tons of concrete after their four-storey boarding school collapsed in Celtiksuyu, on the outskirts of the provincial capital of Bingol. About 50 pupils were pulled alive from the debris.
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Crews work to rescue students in a collapsed school building in Bingol, Turkey, today.
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The cries of the trapped children could be heard from underneath the debris, according reports.
"I suddenly saw the ceiling crash closer to me. There was very little space left between me and the ceiling. The janitor of the school used the broken railings of the staircase to pull me out," one pupil said.
Mr Coskun expressed hope that the steel bunk beds and closets in the dormitory would withhold the falling debris, allowing rescue workers enough time to save the children.
The quake was the deadliest since 1999 when major tremors killed 20,000 people in the country's northwest.