Death toll in eastern Turkey earthquake rises to 30

The death toll from Turkey's 5.6-magnitude earthquake climbed to 30 on Saturday as rescue workers pulled eight more bodies overnight from the remains of the Bayram Hotel in the centre of the eastern city of Van,CNN Turk reported. Until Friday, the death toll of the latest earthquake that struck the eastern town of Van rose to 17 including a japanese citizen, according to Turkish authorities. The quake also left 30 others injured including as well a japanese citizen, said the authorities. Search teams however 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 tremblor, which was the second earthquake to shake Van in 17 days, the authorities said Saturday. 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 Deputy Prime Minister Beshir Atalay urged the city''s half a million residents to wait for inspections by civil engineers before re-entering their homes. "Please don''t return to your houses before a damage assessment has been done," Atalay told a press conference in the Van crisis centre.