New earthquake in Turkey leaves three dead and people trapped under rubble in Hatay

Three people were killed after a 6.4-magnitude earthquake struck southern Turkey on Monday, weeks after a deadly earthquake devastated the region.

More than 680 people were injured in Turkey and Syria.

Turkey’s disaster and emergency agency Afad said the earthquake struck at 20:04 local time (17:04 GMT), followed by several aftershocks.

A 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck the same area on February 6, killing more than 44,000 people in Turkey and Syria.

Those who died in Monday’s earthquake were found in Antakya, Defne, and Samandagi, Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu said, urging people not to enter dangerous buildings.

Mr Soylu said 213 people were injured in Turkey.

Witnesses told the Reuters news agency that there was further damage to buildings in Antakya, while the mayor of Hatay, in southern Turkey, said people were trapped under debris.

“I thought the ground would break under my feet,” Muna al-Omar, a local resident, told Reuters, crying as she held her seven-year-old son. He was in a tent in a park in central Antakya when the latest quake struck, he said.

Turkish authorities have recorded more than 6,000 aftershocks since the quake on February 6, but the BBC’s team in the region said the latest quake felt stronger than the previous one.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 470 injured people visited hospitals after the earthquake, which was also reported to have been felt in Egypt and Lebanon.

Afad said there were 32 aftershocks after Monday’s earthquake, the largest of which had a magnitude of 5.8.

There was fear and panic in the streets – lines of ambulances and rescue crews were trying to reach some of the worst-affected areas where walls of destroyed buildings had collapsed.

Several structures left standing after the February 6 quake have been destroyed, including a bridge. Many cracks in the roads have turned into deep gashes that make it difficult for emergency services to get to where they need to be.

An AFP reporter reported scenes of horror in Antakya, the capital of Hatay Province already devastated by the previous earthquake – with the latest tremors raising a cloud of dust over the city.

The walls of the buildings also collapsed, AFP reported, with many apparently injured people calling for help.

Ali Mazlum said he was searching for the bodies of family members from the previous earthquake when the latest one hit.

“You don’t know what to do … we held each other and in front of us, the walls started falling. It was like the ground was opening to swallow us,” he said.

In a tweet, Afad initially urged people to stay away from beaches as a precaution against the risk of rising sea levels, although the warning was later lifted.

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