The death toll from the earthquakes in Türkiye's southeast surpassed 18,342 late Thursday, according to Vice President Fuat Oktay said.
In a news conference, Oktay said 18,342 people lost their lives in the recent disaster, while 74,242 were injured and 121 citizens were pulled from the rubble alive in the past 24 hours.
He noted that the search and rescue operations in Kilis and Şanlıurfa provinces have been completed, and they are almost complete in Adana, Osmaniye and Diyarbakır provinces.
There is currently 120,340 emergency staff working on the ground, including 6,479 from 75 countries, the vice president said.
For search and rescue operations to be carried out rapidly, Türkiye approved a state of emergency for three months in 10 provinces, including Adana, Adıyaman, Diyarbakir, Gaziantep, Hatay, Kahramanmaraş, Kilis, Malatya, Osmaniye and Şanlıurfa.
The country is observing a seven-day national mourning after the magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 earthquakes.
