Three British nationals missing after Turkey earthquake kills 5,000 people

07 February 2023 , 12:52

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Three British nationals missing after Turkey earthquake kills 5,000 people

Three British nationals are missing following the huge earthquake which struck south-eastern Turkey and northern Syria, the Foreign Secretary has said.

Making a statement in the Commons, Foreign Secretary James Cleverly confirmed that three British nationals are missing and a further 35 are affected. He did not specify whether they were in Syria or Turkey.

He said: "We know that three British nationals are missing and the Foreign Office's Crisis Response Hub is working to support the at least 35 British nationals who have been directly affected by these earthquakes.

"We assess that the likelihood of large-scale British casualties remains low."

More than a day after the powerful earthquake struck the region, killing more than 5,000, people are continuing to pull out bodies from under the rubble with their bare freezing hands.

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A view of a collapsed building and a damaged vehicle after 7.7 magnitude earthquake

Updating the Commons on the UK response to the Turkey and Syria earthquake, James Cleverly said more than 6,000 buildings have collapsed and electricity and gas infrastructure has been severely damaged.

He said many of the 3.5 million Syrian refugees hosted by Turkey reside in the affected provinces and that the country is requesting international assistance "on a scale that matches the enormity of the situation that they are facing."

Turkey’s vice president, Fuat Oktay, said 3,419 people had been killed, with a further 20,534 injured.

Police officer Zekeriya Yildiz hugs his daughter (AFP via Getty Images)

The number of confirmed deaths in Syria rose to 1,602, bringing the death toll in both countries to 5,021.

Turkey’s disaster management agency said it had 11,342 reports of collapsed buildings, of which 5,775 had been confirmed.

Relief worker Atiqur Rahman, the owner of Yahya's Indian Grill in Stoke-on-Trent, was staying at Diplomatic Office for Turkey as part of his work for the charity Global Relief Trust when the earthquake hit.

Three British nationals are missing following the huge earthquake (Getty Images)

Atiqur managed to escape, but one of his colleagues is unable to find his son who studies in the area.

Atiqur, 37, from Burslem, has crossed the border from Syria and is currently in the city of Antakya, Turkey.

He said: "I was here to do deployment work", reports Stoke-on-Trent Live, "We are trying to do what we can. It was 20 past four - the whole building shook. We managed to escape from the premises. One in three buildings has been totally knocked down."

Rachel Hagan