Turkey: Quake kills at least 7, dozens trapped

A strong earthquake rocked eastern Turkey, killing at least seven people in a grim replay of the temblor that devastated the area last month. Rescue workers had managed to pull out 25 survivors from the rubble of three collapsed buildings, including a top hotel where journalists and foreign aid workers were staying, authorities said Thursday.  

The 5.7-magnitude quake Wednesday toppled 25 buildings in the city of van, Deputy Prime Minister Besir Atalay said. The death toll could have been even worse: Only three of the buildings were occupied because the others were evacuated after the Oct. 23 quake that killed more than 600 people and destroyed at least 2,000 buildings.  

Rescue workers sped up their search for survivors by daylight on Thursday, pulling a man in his 60s out of the wreckage of a pancaked hotel, live NTV television broadcast showed. Soon after, rescuers dug a young man from the rubble of an apartment building, the state-run Anatolia news agency said.

The young man became the 25th people to be survived alive so far.   The workers used the glare of high-powered lights to work throughout the night despite several aftershocks. Atalay said rescue work was concentrating at the site of two collapsed hotels and one apartment building.  

One of the collapsed buildings was the Bayram Hotel, Van's best-known hotel. It was at least 40 years old, and had been renovated last year.