Turkey-Syria quake deaths top 28,000, UN expects toll to double

UN relief chief Martin Griffiths said that the death toll of the devastating earthquake in Turkey and Syria will increase by “double or more” from its current toll of 28,000.

On Saturday, Griffiths visited the southern city of Kahramanmaras in Turkey, which was the epicenter of the first earthquake of 7.8-magnitude in the early hours of Monday morning.

Speaking to Sky News, he said, “I think it is difficult to estimate precisely as we need to get under the rubble but I’m sure it will double or more. We haven’t really begun to count the number of dead.”

According to medics and officials, 24,617 lost their lives in Turkey and 3,574 in Syria as the total death toll currently stands at 28,191.

Police detain more than 100 over collapsed buildings

According to state media, the police in quake-hit Turkey detained more than 100 people after multiple buildings collapsed in the country’s south-eastern provinces of Sanliurfa and Gaziantep.

DHA news agency reported that among those arrested were contractors.

At least 6,000 buildings collapsed in the earthquakes, sparking anger over the low quality of housing.

The police officials are expected to detain more people after Turkey’s Vice President Fuat Oktay on Saturday said that 113 arrest warrants have been issued by the prosecutors over the buildings.

Turkey’s justice ministry has ordered investigations into the buildings.