Earthquake rescue mission finishes in Syria's Hama: official

DAMASCUS. KAZINFORM - An official in Syria's central province of Hama announced Tuesday the end of the rescue mission in the province following the deadly earthquake on Monday, Xinhua reports.

Thaer al-Hassan, the fire regiment commander of Hama, told reporters that the rescue mission of searching for survivors and removing bodies from under the rubbles ended after lasting for 15 hours.

He said that the damage is being assessed, and the evacuated civilians were taken to five shelters prepared in Hama.

The most affected neighborhood in Hama is the al-Arbaeen area, where an eight-story building housing 100 people collapsed. As many as 75 wounded people have been rescued and 43 bodies were recovered, he said.

Al-Hassan noted that 43 out of the 48 people who died in Hama were in the collapsed building in the al-Arbaeen area.

The Syrian Health Ministry on Tuesday said the death tolls in Hama, Aleppo, Latakia, Tartous provinces, and rebel-held area in Idlib province stood at 812 killed and 1,449 injured. Meanwhile, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights placed the number at 1,620 casualties.

Photo: AP Photo / Ghaith Alsayed