Earthquake death toll surpasses 2.800 in Syria
IDLIB, Syria (North Press) – The death toll of those killed in Syria in the earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria on Monday reached 2.808 people, while 5.092 were injured.
The Syrian opposition-affiliated Civil Defense group, also known as the White Helmets, which operates in the opposition-controlled northwest Syria, said on its Facebook page on Wednesday that the toll of the devastating earthquake has reached 1.540 deaths and 2.750 injuries.
The civil defense said that the number will hike as hundreds of families are still trapped under the rubble. Rescue teams have been conducting search operations in difficult conditions for 60 hours, it added.
For its part, the Health Ministry of the Syrian government announced on Wednesday that government-held areas have recorded 1.262 deaths and 2.285 injuries.
Syria’s Health Minister Hassan al-Ghabbash told state-run Sana news agency that medical teams have been working at their full capacity for more than 55 hours to reach all the victims, pull them out from under the rubble, and transfer the injured to hospitals to provide treatment as quickly as possible.
In the areas of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), the number of the victims remains the same, which is six deaths and 57 injuries, according to its Health board.