Turkey-Syria earthquake: Death toll crosses 40,000

The combined death toll from the recent devastating earthquakes that hit southern Turkey has exceeded 40,000.

This is according to the governments of Turkey and Syria, as well as the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

In Turkey, 35,418 people have been killed, and in Syria, at least another 5,814 have died following the quakes that occurred on February 6.

Derya Yanik, Turkey’s minister of family and social services, on Tuesday, said at least 1,362 children in Turkey were separated from their parents.

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Yanik said 369 have been reunited with their families, 792 are in hospitals, and 201 children are in “institutions affiliated with our ministry”.

Those rescued on Tuesday included two brothers, aged 17 and 21, pulled from an apartment block in Kahramanmaras province, and a Syrian man and young woman in a leopard-print headscarf in Antakya rescued after over 200 hours in the rubble.

There could be further people still alive to find, said one rescuer.