Indian Missing After Turkey Quake, Was There On Business Trip: Centre

One Indian who had gone to Turkey on a work visit is missing after a massive earthquake that has killed more than 8,500 people in the country, the government said today.

Ten Indians are stuck in remote parts of the country but are safe, the Foreign Ministry said, adding there are 3,000 Indians in Turkey.

"We set up a control room in Turkey's Adana. 10 Indians are stuck in remote parts of affected areas but they are safe. One Indian national who was on a business visit is missing. We're in touch with his family and the company in Bengaluru which employs him," said Secretary, West, Sanjay Verma.

India is providing material, medical supplies and equipment to Syria as well as sending search and rescue teams to Turkey under 'Operation Dost', External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said earlier today.

The search for survivors continues in Turkey and Syria, which, together, have lost more than 11,000 people.

Foreign aid from multiple countries has started arriving in the region.

"Under #OperationDost, India is sending search and rescue teams, a field hospital, materials, medicines and equipment to Turkiye and Syria. This is an ongoing operation and we would be posting updates," Mr Jaishankar tweeted.

Searchers were still pulling survivors today even as the window for rescues narrowed. For two days and nights since the 7.8 magnitude quake, thousands of searchers have worked in freezing temperatures to find those still alive under flattened buildings on either side of the border.

Turkish Red Crescent chief Kerem Kinik had warned that the first 72 hours were critical in search and rescue efforts but pointed to complications of "severe weather conditions", news agency AFP reported.

Emergency workers today saved some children found under a collapsed building in the hard-hit Turkish province of Hatay, where whole stretches of towns have been levelled.