Turkey and Syria earthquake death toll surpasses 23,000

The death toll following the two deadly earthquakes that hit Turkey and Syria on Monday has climbed to 23,726, according to authorities.

In Turkey, the death toll has risen to at least 20,213 with 80,052 others reported injured, according to Turkey’s Health Minister Fahrettin Koca.

At least 2,166 people were killed in opposition-held northwest Syria, Syrian White Helmets have said.

The toll in the government-held areas also has risen to 1,387 deaths and 2,326 injured, the state media reported on Thursday citing Syria’s health ministry.

This brings the total death toll in Syria to 3,553.

Rescue crews saved a 10-day-old baby and his mother trapped in the ruins of a building in Turkey on Friday and dug several people out from other sites as President Tayyip Erdogan said authorities should have reacted faster to this week's huge earthquake. 

Three people were rescued from the rubble of a building in the Syrian city of Jableh, state media reported, about 110 hours after a deadly earthquake struck the region on Monday.

Live television footage from the site showed two people being pulled from the rubble by Syrian and Lebanese rescue crews, as bystanders clapped and shouted “God is great.”

A rescue worker said that two of those rescued were a woman and her child.

Turkish police have detained a contractor trying to flee the country after his building collapsed.

The quake levelled thousands of buildings and has sparked outrage from victims and people across Turkey over the poor quality of housing.

Ronesans Residence, a block of high-rise luxury flats that toppled over in Antakya city, Hatay province, has sparked anger on social media.

The 2013 date is particularly important because Turkey introduced tougher building regulations after a 1999 quake in northwestern Turkey killed more than 17,000 people.

Officers detained the contractor, Mehmet Yasar Coskun, at Istanbul airport as he tried to run away to Montenegro, state news agency Anadolu said.