Volunteers struggling to find at least one survivor in Turkey’s quake-hit city of Antakya said on Saturday that devastation and sanitation problems were adding to their difficult task.
One resident, who was searching for a companion buried in a collapsed building, said he had seen looting in the first days before leaving the city after Monday’s quake.
“People were breaking windows and fences of shops and cars,” said Mehmet Bok, 26, who is now back in Antakya and searching for a co-worker in a collapsed building.
German aid organizations halted rescue operations in the quake zone on Saturday, citing security problems and reports of clashes and gunfire between groups of people.
Turkish officials have not commented on any unrest, but President Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday that the government would strictly deal with looters and other criminal behaviour, noting that a state of emergency had been declared.
The death toll in Turkey and Syria has crossed 25,300.