Rescuers search for survivors after earthquake in Turkey

CELTIKSUYU, Turkey -- Rescuers dug frantically in the rubble of a middle-school dormitory Thursday, hunting for more than 100 children believed trapped after a powerful earthquake rumbled through southeastern Turkey. At least 100 people were killed and 1,000 injured, officials said.\nThe headmaster said 198 students were sleeping in the building when the quake hit. Rescuers found the bodies of 11 children and one teacher in the flattened building, but 72 children were rescued, officials said. Many others were feared dead, but youngsters could be heard screaming in the rubble, rescue worker Muhsin Balgi said.\n"We hope another 50 students will be saved," Balgi said.\nA civil defense official at the site said at least eight children had been located alive. One child's feet were crushed, but the others were in good condition and had received water from rescuers, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.\n"My friends are waiting for help in there," 12-year-old Veysel Dagdelen was quoted as saying by the Anatolia news agency after he was rescued. "They were calling for help as they were pulling me out."\nHundreds of terrified parents prayed and screamed, waiting for news.\n"Oh my God! Oh my God! My son is lost, he is lost, he is lost! I cannot take the pain anymore!" cried out Sefika Celik, whose 14-year-old son, Alican, was trapped.\nRescuers also dug through a destroyed apartment block in an effort to get people out. One man carried a dead baby into a hospital.\nThe magnitude-6.4 quake struck at 3:27 a.m. and was centered just outside Bingol, 430 miles east of Ankara, the Kandilli seismology center in Istanbul said.\nA bridge and at least 25 buildings collapsed in the center of Bingol, a city of 250,000 inhabitants, Mayor Feyzullah Karaaslan said. Damage could be seen throughout the city, where the streets were filled with terrified residents.\nThe earthquake also damaged power and telephone lines. More than 100 aftershocks hit the region, and rescue workers were unable to reach many villages.\nPrime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said nearly 100 people were killed, while Housing Minister Zeki Ergezen said the death toll could be 150 throughout the region.\nIn Bingol, 90 people died and close to 1,000 were injured, said Sevket Turan, a city official.\nSoldiers, rescuers and local residents worked their way through the debris using cranes and jackhammers, desperately trying to save surviving students. Many injured students were being treated on mattresses laid out near the building.\nNaim Gencgul, a 15-year-old boy, suffered a broken arm.\n"The whole building was on top of me. We all started screaming," he said.\nRelatives rushed toward soldiers every time a rescued student was carried out on a stretcher to check if their children had been saved. Most of the youngsters are children of poor farmers from nearby villages that do not have schools.\nParents questioned the quality of the school's construction.\n"The stable I built did not collapse, but the school did," said Abdullah Gunala, the father of a rescued student.\nVisiting the area, the prime minister said proper inspections had not been carried out and that shoddy material had been used to build the school.\n"Investigations will be launched and the guilty will be prosecuted," Erdogan said.\nDoctors at Bingol's state hospital appealed for help to deal with the crisis. The hospital was seriously damaged in the quake and scores of injured were being treated outside.\n"We need every kind of help," said Ilhan Cokabay, chief doctor at the hospital. "Medical supplies, people, whatever."\nThe mayor said the city also needed more large tents. The Red Crescent sent 2,100 tents, 13,000 blankets, as well as mobile kitchens, generators, ambulances, and four tons of food supplies, rescue authorities said. Soldiers, emergency workers and mountaineers with rescue experience also headed to the area.\nThe quake, which lasted 17 seconds, was felt in the nearby provinces of Erzincan, Tunceli, Bingol, Erzurum, Kayseri and Sivas.