7 Iraqis dead in southern Turkey’s earthquake
Rescue teams searching for survivors amid the rubble of collapsed buildings in one of the areas affected by the earthquake in south eastern Turkey. Photo: AP
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – The Iraqi Chargé d’Affairs in Ankara, Khalil Ibrahim, announced on Saturday that seven Iraqis died in the devastating earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria last Monday.
Ibrahim, in a statement to Al-Iraqiya News channel, clarified that seven Iraqis were confirmed dead in the earthquake in Turkey, and eight others are still lost.
The Iraqi authorities announced they evacuated 51 Iraqi citizens from Turkey following the massive earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria last Monday, according to a statement issued on Saturday by the Iraqi embassy in Ankara.
The Iraqi embassy mentioned in the statement that it transported 51 Iraqi citizens from the city of Adana to a shelter center in Ankara.
The delegation sent by the embassy to the city of Adana, where Iraqi citizens affected by the earthquake are gathering, mentioned that the Iraqi embassy intends to issue them new passports.
The delegation added that the embassy will transport them to Iraq.
Early Monday, a devastating earthquake measuring a magnitude of 7.8 on the Richter scale struck Turkey near the city of Gaziantep, and areas in northern Syria, and was felt by residents in Iraq and Lebanon.
Thousands of people were killed and thousands were injured in Turkey and Syria, officials from both countries mentioned.
Senior officials in Turkey mentioned that around 150 thousand people are now homeless after thousands of buildings collapsed in southern Turkey and northern Syria, where the earthquake shook cities and towns.