Turkish quake death toll rises to 24

The death toll from the second earthquake to hit eastern Turkey in about two weeks rose to 24 on Friday as several rescue teams clawed through heaps of concrete to search for two journalists believed trapped in the rubble of a collapsed hotel.Colleagues of the two reporters from Turkeys Dogan news agency were among dozens of people anxiously waiting for news outside the wreckage of the Bayram Hotel, one of the two hotels that fell apart when the 5.7-magnitude quake hit the eastern city of Van late Wednesday.In our profession we always come across disasters, Dogan agencys general manager, Ugur Cebeci, told The Associated Press as he watched rescuers in red overalls search through the debris of the once five-story hotel. But we are grappling with helplessness here.Journalists and relief workers who had rushed to the region in the aftermath of a more powerful earthquake that hit the region on Oct. 23 themselves became victims when the hotel, weakened by the earlier temblor, collapsed Wednesday.The fatalities include a Japanese relief worker who had come to distribute aid to quake survivors.Rescuers pulled out 12 bodies from the wreckage of the Bayram Hotel as well as the low-budget Aslan Hotel on Friday, raising the death toll to 24, according to state-run TRT television. The dead include at least eight employees of a construction company who were in Van to assemble temporary housing units for survivors in nearby villages.