Two avalanches in eastern Turkey have killed 38 people, most of them buried by the second deluge of snow while working to rescue victims of the first.
Turkey's Disaster and Emergency Authority (AFAD) said 33 people died when the second avalanche hit while they were searching for two more victims of the first slip, which killed five people, after rescuing eight others.
Fifty-three people were injured, it said.
TV footage from Bahcesaray district in the eastern province of Van showed dozens of people using shovels and sticks in snowfall and high winds to dig out vehicles that had been buried and toppled in the avalanche, which occurred yesterday evening.
Van governor Mehmet Emin Bilmez said that rescue efforts were continuing, but did not say how many people were still believed to be trapped.
Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said conditions in the area made it difficult for rescue vehicles to operate, adding that a vehicle had been pulled out from under 4-5 metres of snow.
Osman Ucar, head of AFAD's Van office, was hospitalised after being caught in the avalanche.
At least 38 people have died after two avalanches struck in eastern Turkey. The second avalanche struck as people were working to rescue those buried by the first slide | Read more: https://t.co/V1xr5dmM2Y pic.twitter.com/lHqMoarUwq
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He told Ihlas News Agency from hospital that some 200 people were working in the rescue operation, but many were out of the immediate area when the second avalanche hit today.
"I was halfway buried in snow," he said. "I got out by my own means."
