Turkey: Death toll from quake rises to 35

By Dilara Hamit

ANKARA (AA) - Thirty-five people were killed and over 823 injured after a magnitude-6.6 earthquake jolted Izmir on Friday at the Turkish Aegean, the country's health minister stated on Saturday.

Fahrettin Koca said that 243 people were under treatment, eight in intensive care, with three of them in critical condition after quake in Izmir.

Koca added that 15 patients have had surgery, currently with no serious conditions.

He stressed that there has been no precedence of the current situation -- an earthquake disaster during times of a pandemic.

"We should not succumb to the pandemic while fighting an earthquake disaster," Koca noted, urging everyone to continue taking measures against COVID-19.

Koca said that following 23 hours of efforts for rescuing a mother and her three children from debris, one of the children died.