Sixty-two Palestinians have been killed by Monday’s magnitude 7.8 earthquake and its aftershocks that struck the southeastern region of Turkey along the border with Syria.
Faed Mustafa, Palestine’s Ambassador to Turkey, confirmed last night that 18 Palestinians have been killed in the major earthquake that struck Turkey while 44 have been killed in Syria, raising the death toll to 62, WAFA reported.
Mustafa confirmed the devastating news to WAFA via a phone conversation.
13 dead bodies were pulled from under the rubble in the Raml refugee camp in Latakia, five in Jableh, three in Aleppo, and one from the Syrian town of Jindires.
Three Palestinian refugee camps were affected by the massive earthquakes and these include Raml refugee camp in Latakia, Neirab camp, and Handrat in Aleppo; in addition to several other Palestinian communities in the northern Syrian governorates.
Turkish authorities say the death toll from the earthquakes centered in southeastern Turkey rose to 6,957, bringing the total number of killed, including those in northern Syria, to more than 9,000.
The initial magnitude 7.8 tremor early on Monday brought down buildings as people slept and was followed by a magnitude 7.6 earthquake hours later amid several aftershocks. The death toll is likely to keep rising.
President Mahmoud Abbas mourned the Palestine refugees killed in the earthquake and sent his condolences to their families.
He also instructed the Palestine embassy in Syria to do what is necessary to help the families affected by the earthquake and ordered the dispatch of Palestinian teams to help in the rescue operations.
