THE number of dead from this week’s devastating earthquake in Turkey and Syria has exceeded 19,300, making it a deadlier disaster than the Fukushima nuclear accident in 2011.

Rescuers continued to pull survivors from the rubble today, but hopes of finding many more were fading. The first aid convoy also crossed from Turkey into north-west Syria to provide relief to victims in an enclave ruled by Turkey-backed rebels.

Aid lorries used the Bab al-Hawa border crossing, the only entry point that the United Nations authorises for aid to the area. The Syrian government and its UN security council ally Russia have pushed for aid to be allowed in from the rest of Syria, but the rebel authorities and Turkey do not allow this. No convoy could get across until yesterday as debris from the quake had to be removed first.