Turkey rescue workers dig for quake victims

Constanze Hasimoglu said she last heard from her daughter, Hattice, in a telephone call immediately after a powerful quake struck this isolated corner of southeastern Turkey.

“She said, ‘Hello, hello’ — she sounded panicked — and then the line went dead,” the distraught Hasimoglu recalled Monday.

Hasimoglu held vigil near a debris pile where workers drilled and hammered, searching for her daughter and other potential survivors of the earthquake that struck Turkey on Sunday afternoon.

PHOTOS: Earthquake in Turkey kills hundreds

Similar scenes were repeated over and over after the magnitude 7.2 earthquake shook this vast region of undulating plains and snowcapped mountains, destroying scores of buildings and leaving hundreds dead.

Officials said at least 279 had been killed and more than 1,000 injured in the latest temblor to strike the earthquake-prone area. Casualty figures were expected to continue to rise because hundreds of people were thought to be trapped in collapsed buildings, including many multistory apartment blocks.

Scientists from Turkey’s Kandilli Observatory and Earthquake Research Institute said 1,000 people may have perished given the force of the earthquake and the scale of destruction. The quake, centered in the village of Tabanli, was also felt in nearby Iran and Armenia.

Damage was especially severe in Van, the provincial capital, and in Ercis, a city near the Iranian border.

“There are still many trapped underneath; it may take us days of searching,” said Duncis Genger from Turkey’s search-and-rescue team UMKE, a national organization of professional medical volunteers. “There are too many sad stories.”

In one building, a search team found the bodies of a newly wedded couple. “They were still embracing each other,” Genger said.

Cries rang out as residents discovered their loved ones had perished. An elderly man collapsed to the ground, overcome by grief and shock as he learned of the death of his two young daughters.

Flattened homes filled block after residential block, including apartment buildings where the upper floors had pancaked onto lower stories.

Rescue dogs combed the debris for signs of life. Diggers prowled deep through the concrete, pausing to allow rescuers to listen for sounds of life. Men eschewed heavy machinery for pickaxes when they found areas where they thought victims might be trapped.

“Today we pulled out 11 people. Most were in terrible condition,” said Dr. Ekin Tasatan, working with the search-and-rescue teams.

He said he had to use a knife to amputate the arm of one woman trapped in a building.

“A concrete block had fallen on her arm,” Tasatan explained. “She was not stable and we had to do something.”

Cellphones became lifesaving devices. Four people were pulled from the rubble after one managed to call relatives, who alerted rescue workers. In a separate case, a teacher texted for help from a collapsed school building.

Residents of the two hard-hit cities milled the streets, too fearful of aftershocks to return to their homes. Families erected tents on the streets, lighting fires beside them to battle the cold.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told reporters that many rural mud-brick homes had collapsed.

The Turkish Red Crescent erected tents and provided other assistance. Families joined long lines for hot meals of pasta and beans. Many waited to hear about their loved ones.

For agonizing hours, Constanze Hasimoglu watched the workers drill and hammer. Hattice, 23, was thought to be somewhere in the rubble along with another woman and a 4-year-old girl.

PHOTOS: Earthquake in Turkey kills hundreds

Sherlock is a special correspondent. Times staff writer Patrick J. McDonnell in Beirut contributed to this report.