A powerful earthquake has hit a wide area in South Eastern Turkey, near the Syrian border killing more than 500 people and trapping many others.
Turkish Vice-President Fuat Oktay said the death toll in Turkey had now risen to 284 people.
According to state media in Syria, more than 230 people were killed.
The Syrian health ministry said people had died in the provinces of Aleppo, Latakia, Hama and Tartus.
Many buildings have collapsed and rescue teams have been deployed to search for survivors under huge piles of rubble.
Turkish Interior Minister Suleymon Soylu said 10 cities were affected: Gaziantep, Kahramanmaras, Hatay, Osmaniye, Adiyaman, Malatya, Sanliurfa, Adana, Diyarbakir and Kilis.
In Malatya province, north-east of Gaziantep, at least 23 people were killed, local officials said. In Sanliurfa, to the east, there were 17 deaths. And more deaths were reported in Diyarbakir and Osmaniye.
At least 2,323 people were injured in Turkey and 639 in Syria.
The tremor was also felt in Lebanon and Cyprus.
Turkish seismologists estimated the strength of the quake to be 7.4 magnitude. They said that a second tremor hit the region just minutes later.
Turkey lies in one of the world’s most active earthquake zones.
In 1999, more than 17,000 people were killed after a powerful tremor rocked the north-west of the country.
BBC
