Death toll in post-quake Van rises to 30

PanARMENIAN.Net - The death toll from Turkey's 5.6-magnitude earthquake climbed to 30 on November 12 as rescue workers pulled eight more bodies overnight from the remains of the Bayram Hotel in the centre of the eastern city of Van.

Search teams probed the rubble with listening devices as the clearance of the quake-flattened hotel entered its final stage on Saturday.

Rescuers saved 30 people trapped under the rubble of two hotels - Bayram and Aslan - toppled by Wednesday's tremor, which was the second earthquake to shake Van in 17 days, the authorities said Saturday.

Van residents have protested the fact that the government allowed the two hotels to receive guests after the 7.2-magnitude quake of October 23, which damaged their core structures.

Among the bodies found overnight were those of two Dogan News Agency journalists, Cem Emir, 26, and Sebahattin Yilmaz, 52. They had been staying in the Bayram to report on the aftermath of the October quake, M&C reported.