There was no change in the number of the injured, which stood at 503, the crisis desk in Bingol city said.

The tremor, measuring 6.4 on the Richter scale, struck the mainly Kurdish region early Thursday, trapping some 200 people under collapsed buildings.

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

Bingol's deputy governor Ahmet Aydin told Anatolia news agency that 117 of the pupils in Celtiksuyu survived the disaster, while 46 children and one teacher were killed.

He estimated that up to 40 children were still buried, but rescuers said they were losing hope of pulling out more survivors.

SPACE.WIRE