A statement by the quake crisis desk said that 499 people were injured in the tremor which struck the eastern province of Bingol early Thursday.

The quake trapped about 200 people under collapsed buildings.

Most of them were children who were asleep in their dormitories at a boarding school in a village near Bingol city when the quake struck.

Rescuers have so far pulled about 80 pupils alive from the debris and recovered more than 20 bodies.

SPACE.WIRE