DEADLY MAYHEM: Survivors of yesterday’s 7.2-magnitude earthquake in eastern Turkey scramble to pull the wounded from piles of rubble. (REUTERS)
ANKARA, Turkey — A 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck eastern Turkey yesterday, killing at least 138 people and sparking widespread panic as dozens of buildings collapsed into piles of twisted steel and chunks of concrete.
Tens of thousands of residents fled into the streets — running, screaming and trying to reach relatives on cellphones. Desperate survivors dug into the rubble with their bare hands, trying to rescue the trapped and the injured.
Turkey’s state-run television station, TRT, said a group of inmates escaped from a prison after the earthquake struck. It was not immediately known how many fled.
Turkish authorities said scientists estimated that up to 1,000 people could already be dead.