Several killed in Turkey quake: Reports...

ANKARA, TURKEY: A able earthquake, with a basic consequence of 6, hit eastern Turkey on Monday, killing 57 bodies and animadversion bottomward houses in at atomic six baby villages, an official said.

The convulsion addled six villages in Elazig province, toppling bean or mud-brick homes and minarets of mosques. Bekir Yanilmaz, the ambassador of the adjacent boondocks of Kovancilar, provided CNN-Turk television with the afterlife toll.

The government's crisis centermost put the cardinal at 51.

The worst-hit breadth was the apple of Okcular area some 17 bodies were appear asleep and homes burst into bags of dirt. Another 13 bodies were asleep in the apple of Yukari Demirci, Gov. Muammer Erol said.

The government's crisis centermost said about 100 bodies were additionally afflicted in the quake, which occurred at 4:32 a.m. (0232 GMT, 9pm EST Sunday) in Elazig province, about 550 kilometers (340 miles) east of Ankara, the capital.

The earthquake, which bent abounding bodies in their sleep, was centered abreast the apple of Basyurt. It was followed by added than 30 aftershocks, the arch barometer 5.5, the Kandilli seismology centermost said.

Emergency workers were aggravating to accomplishment four bodies from debris, Gov. Muammer Erol said. CNN-Turk television said the asleep included four adolescent sisters trapped in the rubble.

``Everything has been agape down, there is not a bean in place,'' said Yadin Apaydin, ambassador for the apple of Yukari Kanatli, area he said at atomic three villagers died.

Authorities blocked admission to Okcular village, to facilitate the access and avenue of ambulances and accomplishment teams on the village's attenuated roads. Relatives rushed to the apple for account of their admired ones.

``The apple is absolutely flattened,'' Okcular's ambassador Hasan Demirdag told clandestine NTV television.

Ali Riza Ferhat, an Okcular resident, said he was woken by the jolt.

``I approved to get out of the aperture but it wouldn't open. I came out of the window and started allowance my neighbors,'' he told NTV television. ``We removed six bodies.''

The convulse was acquainted in the adjoining ambit of Tunceli, Bingol and Diyarbakir area association fled to the streets in agitation and spent the night outdoors.

Some of the injuries occurred during the panic, back bodies jumped from windows or balconies. Dogan account bureau footage showed bodies bringing in the afflicted to hospitals by cars and taxis.

Kandilli Observatory's director, Mustafa Erdik, apprenticed association not to access damaged homes, admonishing that they could topple from the aftershocks, which could aftermost for days.

Television footage showed accomplishment workers and soldiers at Okcular appropriation bits as villagers looked on. Rescuers could be apparent digging into clay and again removing an aged man. The man had died and his anatomy was bound covered with a sheet.

Two women sat on mattresses captivated in blankets. The convulsion additionally agape bottomward barns, killing acreage animals.

Turkey's Red Crescent alignment beatific tents and blankets to the region.

Earthquakes are common in Turkey, abundant of which lies on top of the North Anatolian fault. In 1999, two able earthquakes addled northwestern Turkey, killing about 18,000 people.

In 2007, an convulsion barometer 5.7 damaged barrio in Elazig, briefly accoutrement a woman beneath debris. In 2003, an convulsion barometer 6.4 consequence burst a academy billet in the adjoining arena of Bingol province, killing 83 children. The collapse was abhorrent on poor construction.