Death toll in post-quake Van rises to 30November 12, 2011 - 14:11 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - The death toll from Turkey's 5.6-magnitude earthquake climbed to 30 on November 12 as rescue workers pulled eight more bodies overnight from the remains of the Bayram Hotel in the centre of the eastern city of Van. Search teams probed the rubble with listening devices as the clearance of the quake-flattened hotel entered its final stage on Saturday. Rescuers saved 30 people trapped under the rubble of two hotels - Bayram and Aslan - toppled by Wednesday's tremor, which was the second earthquake to shake Van in 17 days, the authorities said Saturday. Van residents have protested the fact that the government allowed the two hotels to receive guests after the 7.2-magnitude quake of October 23, which damaged their core structures. Among the bodies found overnight were those of two Dogan News Agency journalists, Cem Emir, 26, and Sebahattin Yilmaz, 52. They had been staying in the Bayram to report on the aftermath of the October quake, M&C reported. Top stories Authorities said a total of 192 Azerbaijani troops were killed and 511 were wounded during Azerbaijan’s offensive. In 2023, the Azerbaijani government will increase the country’s defense budget by more than 1.1 billion manats ($650 million). The bill, published on Monday, is designed to "eliminate the shortcomings of an unreasonably broad interpretation of the key concept of "compatriot". The earthquake caused a temporary blackout, damaged many buildings and closed a number of rural roads. Partner news | Russia warns Armenia against “falling into West’s trap” Zakharova maintained, however, that anything that will benefit the people of Armenia can only be welcomed. CSTO: Armenia has not participated in secretariat’s work recently Recently Armenia has not participated in the work of the secretariat of the CSTO, Imangali Tasmagambetov said. Meeting with U.S., EU not against third parties, says Armenia The meeting scheduled for April 5 is dedicated to strengthening of the Armenia-EU-US cooperation, Yerevan added. Ucom launches network modernization efforts in few regions of Armenia In particular, on March 28, the legacy Mobile Switching Subsystem will be replaced with a new one. |