UN coordinator fears quake toll will double

The United Nations humanitarian chief said Saturday that the death toll of the devastating earthquakes that hit Turkiye and Syria earlier in the week was likely to "more than double". The death toll in both countries has surpassed 25,000.

Martin Griffiths, UN Humanitarian Chief said “It's deeply, deeply, deeply shocking. The idea that mountains of rubble still hold people, some of them still alive, many of them dead. We haven't yet begun to really count the ultimate number who may have died.  “I think it (final death toll) is really difficult to estimate, obviously, very precisely, because we need to get under the rubble. But I'm sure it'll double or more. And that's terrifying.” 

Turkiye’s president on Saturday raised the death toll in his country to 21,848, while in Syria, the reported number of dead was 3,553 in government and rebel-held areas.