13 Nov 2011

40 now dead in Turkey quake

11:55 am on 13 November 2011

The death toll from a magnitude 5.6 earthquake in eastern Turkey on Wednesday has risen to 40.

Earlier during a visit to the region, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan put the death toll at 37.

Thirty people are believed to have been pulled alive from the debris after quake.

A magnitude 7.2 quake in the same region on 29 October killed more than 600 people.

According to the Kandilli Observatory in Istanbul, Wednesday's quake was focused on Edremit, a town about 15km from Van.