Death toll from Turkey, Syria earthquake tops 47,000

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu has raised the number of fatalities in Turkey from the magnitude 7.8 earthquake to 43,556.  The combined death toll in Turkey and Syria now stands at 47,244. In northwestern Syria, the local civil defense known locally as The White Helmets, said that thousands of children and tens of thousands of families have taken shelter in cars and tents “fearing they would face a repeat of the earthquake.” In government-held Syria, a first plane from Bahrain loaded with aid landed in Damascus.