Turkey quake: Hospital parking turns makeshift morgue as people scramble to identify their kin

A car parking space in Southern Turkey has become a makeshift morgue, revealing the heart-wrenching realities of earthquake-devastated Turkey. A report by AFP cited Rania Zaboubi, a Syrian refugee, seen scouring the body bags laid out in the car parking of a hospital in search of her uncle who went missing after Monday's series of earthquakes."I found my aunt, but not my uncle," she said in a choked voice.

Rania told AFP that she lost eight members of her family in the earthquake tragedy. So far, over19,300 people are reported to have died in Turkey and neighbouring Syria.

The AFP reported that its journalists counted nearly 200 dead bodies in the parking lot of the main hospital in Antakya, a large city in Turkey's Hatay province. People were reportedly seen going from corpse to corpse looking for the people they knew. Seven bodies were seen lying at the foot of a container overflowing with waste. The walls of Antakya's main hospital has huge cracks. The interior of the hospital building is reported to be badly damaged, following which the hospital is unable to attend to the patients, dead or alive. Although still standing, authorities are reported to have taken the decision to evacuate it.

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At least 3,356 people died in Hatay, more than a quarter of the dead in Turkey so far reported.

Anonymous bodies in Turkey hospital

Patients are treated in red and white tents and are classified into three coloursaccording to the severity of their injuries. 'So many', as a rescue volunteer told AFP, were transported by helicopter to hospitals that withstood the tremors, with many going to the city of Adana. The dead, however, are stranded on the cold asphalt.

(With inputs from agencies)

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