New Earthquakes In Turkey Kill 3 People, Trap Many

Two new earthquakes hit Turkey Monday, killing at least three people and leaving many trapped under rubble.

In the south-east area near the border with Syria, tremors of 6.4 and 5.8 magnitude were felt, reported BBC.

This comes after massive earthquakes devastated both countries on Feb. 6. At least 44,000 people in Turkey and Syria were killed and tens of thousands more were left homeless due to the natural disaster.

Those tremors already weakened many buildings in the two countries, and they collapsed on Monday.

The 6.4 tremor happened at 8:04 local time followed by the 5.8 earthquake, which occurred just three minutes later, said Turkey's disaster and emergency agency.

The first earthquake hit the Turkish town of Defne and was strongly felt in Antakya city and Adana province.

The disaster management agency shared that the second one's epicentre was the Samandag district in Hatay.

Three people were killed and as many as 213 had to be taken to hospital, said Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu.

In Syria White Helmets, more than 130 people were injured and some of the already damaged buildings had collapsed, reported France 24.

The three deaths happened in Samandag, Antakya and Defne, and Soylu urged people not to enter potentially dangerous buildings.

Muna al-Omar, a resident of Antakya, said that she thought the earth would split open under her feet.

The woman, with her seven-year-old son, had been in a tent in a park in the city centre when the new earthquakes struck.

Ali Mazlum said that he had been looking for the bodies of his family members from the previous earthquakes when the new ones hit.

The 18-year-old shared that people grabbed each other and right in front of them, the "walls started to fall."

Mehmet Irmak, who works at a notary's office, said that the road moved like waves and that the building "moved back and forth, the cars moved left to right. It knocked me off my feet."

He shared that Hatay is no longer a safe place and that they "will wait for a new day, but I don't know what I'm going to do." He had been sleeping in his car for two weeks after the first earthquake.