Luanda – Angolan ambassador to Turkey José Patrício said Wednesday that Angolan citizens were not among the victims of the earthquake that rocked the southwest of that European country and claimed thousands of lives.
In a communication made from Turkey, which reached ANGOP, the diplomat reassured the Angolans, noting that most of the community is concentrated in Istanbul and Ankara, regions far from the epicenter of the earthquakes.
However, he said that in the region of the epicenter there was a female student, but had already been evacuated to Ankara in perfect health conditions.
He also reported the installation in a hotel, under the custody of the Embassy, of four football players who, not being in the center of events, panicked during the earthquake after feeling the building shake.
José Patrício also spoke of the existence of five national citizens detained in deportation centers in the regions hardest hit by the earthquake, due to their condition of illegal immigration, but who were transferred to safer areas.
The first earthquake, recorded near the city of Gaziantep, had a magnitude of 7.8 and the second 7.5, which occurred near the city of Kahramanmaras.
Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, visited Wednesday the affected area.
Upon his arrival in Kahramanmaras, close to the epicenter, Erdogan reported that the number of confirmed dead in Turkey is now 8,574, bringing the total of victims to more than 11,000 in both countries.
He said that Turkey had experienced its “greatest disaster” in the last century, since the Erzincan earthquake in 1939.
Source: Angola Press News Agency