BAYRAKLI, Turkey: Rescuers dug through heavy blocks of concrete with their bare hands on Saturday in a desperate search for survivors from a powerful earthquake that levelled buildings across Greece and Turkey, killing at least 26 people.
Felt in both Istanbul and Athens, it also created a diplomatic opening for the two historic rivals, with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis placing a rare call to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to offer his condolences and support. Turkey's disaster relief agency reported 24 deaths and 800 injuries, while in Greece two teenagers died on their way home from school on Samos when a wall collapsed.One Izmir hospital rolled some of its patients - still strapped into their beds and hooked up to drips - out on the street as a precaution.
Thick white plumes of smoke towered over various parts of the city where big buildings had collapsed. "We ask you to remain calm," he told her in televised footage."We will try to lift the concrete block and reach you."The region's governor said 70 people had been pulled out alive by Friday evening, although how many more were missing remained unknown by sunset.
But the quake saw a spurt of what pundits immediately termed"earthquake diplomacy", with calls exchanged by their foreign ministers and then, hours later, the Greek prime minister and Erdogan.
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