Ankara: Three people are now confirmed to have died after a 6.4-magnitude earthquake struck southern Turkey on Monday, weeks after a deadly quake devastated the region.
More than 680 people have been injured in Turkey and Syria.
Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu also said 213 people had been injured.
Turkey’s disaster and emergency agency Afad said the tremor occurred at 20:04 local time (17:04 GMT), the BBC reported.
A 7.8-magnitude quake struck the same area on February 6, killing more than 44,000 people in Turkey and Syria.
Those killed by Monday’s tremor were found in Antakya, Defne, and Samandagi, Soylu said, urging people not to enter potentially dangerous buildings.
Turkish authorities have recorded more than 6,000 aftershocks since the February 6 earthquake hit, but the BBC’s team in the region said the latest tremor felt much stronger than previous ones.
Monday’s earthquake hit near the Turkey-Syria border, and the White Helmets civil defence group said more than 100 people were injured in Syria, with buildings collapsing and widespread panic, the BBC reported.
The Syrian American Medical Society Foundation said that five of its hospitals received at least 30 people with injuries from the latest earthquake, but added that damage to its medical facilities “appears to be minimal”.
