Number of Nigerian victims unknown as Turkey, Syria earthquake kill over 5,000

Over 5,000 persons have been killed in an earthquake that occured in Turkey and Syria with the number of Nigerian victims uncertain.

There are a good number of Nigerian citizens schooling and working in Turkey when the incident happened on Tuesday.

Overwhelmed rescuers struggled to save people trapped under the rubble with ‘despair’ mounting and the scale of the disaster hampering relief efforts.

In the Turkish city of Antakya near the Syrian border, where 10-storey buildings crumbled onto the streets, rescue work is being conducted on one out of dozens of mounds of rubble, reports said.

The temperature was close to freezing as the rain came down and there was no electricity or fuel in the city.

The magnitude 7.8 quake hit Turkey and neighbouring Syria early on Monday, “toppling thousands of buildings including many apartment blocks, wrecking hospitals, and leaving thousands of people injured or homeless.”

In Turkey, the death toll climbed to 2,921 people, Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Authority, AFAD, said, but the number has continued to rise.

The Nigerian authority is left with the task of finding out its citizens who lost their lives in the natural disaster.