In southern Turkey, at least 14 people have been arrested for alleged negligence after buildings collapsed during the earthquake disaster.
An arrest warrant had also been issued for 33 people in the city of Diyarbakir, the state news agency Anadolu reported on Saturday, citing prosecutors. They should be responsible for any structural damage that favored the collapse of the building, such as the removal of concrete pillars.
One of the suspects was reportedly arrested at Istanbul Airport. He is said to have tried to flee to Montenegro with cash. Nine other suspects were arrested in the cities of Sanliurfa and Osmaniye.
Arrests also for looting
At least 48 people were arrested by the Turkish authorities for alleged looting. In Hatay province alone, 42 suspects were arrested with large sums of money, jewellery, bank cards, computers, mobile phones and weapons, the official Turkish news agency Anadolu reported on Saturday, citing security officials.
According to a decree also published in the Official Journal on Saturday, prosecutors in the ten earthquake provinces can detain suspected looters for seven days under the state of emergency declared by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. It’s been four days so far.
Erdogan had previously announced tough action against looters. “Anyone involved in looting or kidnapping should be aware from now on that the state has them firmly in its sights,” Erdogan said during his visit to Diyarbakir province, expressly referring to the emergency regulations.
The death toll rises to more than 24,000
Meanwhile, the death toll has risen to over 24,000. In the affected areas in Turkey alone, 20,665 dead were recovered, according to the Afad civil protection authority on Saturday morning. More than 3,500 people have died in Syria. At least 24,165 fatalities have now been counted in both countries, with many more feared. Many people are still missing under the rubble.
According to Turkey, around 24.4 million people are affected by the earthquake. According to the authorities, almost 93,000 people have been brought out of the earthquake areas to date. More than 166,000 emergency services are involved in rescue and relief operations. The country also received the support of 8,000 foreign helpers from 68 countries.
More than 77,000 people were injured, said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Malatya on Friday. Erdogan described the earthquake as one of the greatest disasters in Turkey’s history.
According to UN estimates, up to 5.3 million people in Syria have become homeless. As the representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Syria, Sivanka Dhanapala, said in Damascus on Friday, an estimated 5.37 million refugees across the country need help with accommodation.
The first tremor hit the border area early Monday morning with a magnitude of 7.7. Another 7.6 magnitude tremor followed in the region at noon. According to the Turkish civil protection agency Afad, there have been more than 1,900 aftershocks since then.
Rescued from under the rubble after more than 100 hours
Initially, countless people were rescued from the rubble of collapsed buildings, but helpers are now recovering almost nothing but corpses: According to Vice President Fuat Oktay, only 67 people across the country have been pulled alive from the rubble in the past 24 hours.