Turkey announces the killing of at least 22 people .. Erdogan inspects the devastating earthquake area

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, on Saturday, headed to the earthquake-stricken state of Azazeg on Friday evening, for an inspection tour.

President Erdogan canceled his scheduled participation in the General Assembly meeting of the Council on Foreign Economic Relations in Istanbul, and went to Alazig.

Erdogan inspects the earthquake-stricken areas, and looks at the extent of the damage and the conduct of search and rescue operations and relief activities.

Parliament Speaker Mustafa Shantoub also went to the region, to accompany President Erdogan on his inspection tour.

And Saturday, Turkish Interior Minister Suleiman Soylu announced that the death toll from the earthquake had risen to 22.

Soilo said that the earthquake killed 18 people in Alazig state, as well as four others in the state of Malatya.

Soilo said 398 aftershocks occurred after the earthquake, 13 of them with a magnitude of 4, and one of them with a magnitude of 5.4.

In turn, Minister of Health Fakhreddin Kajj said that hospitals received 1031 injured people, 34 of whom were being treated in intensive care, and that there were no critical cases among them.

The Turkish "TRT" station broadcast scenes of dozens of workers in the light of dawn, using shovels in a house that partially collapsed in Alazig. Windows were shattered and balconies of at least four floors collapsed.

Rescue personnel worked throughout the night with their hands and excavators to raise the rubble in the city, where temperatures fell during the night to eight degrees below zero.

On Friday evening, an earthquake struck the eastern regions of Turkey with a magnitude of 6.8, centered on the province of Alazig, according to the Turkish Disaster and Emergency Management "Avad", and was felt by the residents of neighboring countries.

Many countries offered their condolences to Turkey over the earthquake victims, including Malaysia, Qatar, Kazakhstan, the Republic of Northern Cyprus, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Bulgaria, Azerbaijan and Canada.