Turkey-Syria earthquake: Man leaves UK to return to hometown

Suleyman Yildrim plans to help as many people as he can

A man who may have lost 30 family members in the Turkey-Syria earthquake has left the UK to offer his support.

Suleyman Yildirim, from Stanley, County Durham, is travelling to his hometown of Hatay in Turkey near the border.

His brother is joining him and they plan to stay for two weeks, delivering aid and "helping with the rescue mission", if authorities allow them to.

The devastating quake hit Turkey and Syria last Monday and the death toll has now passed 35,000 people.

The UN is warning the final number of fatalities is likely to be at least double the current amount.

A number of buildings collapsed in Hatay

Mr Yildrim, 39, said: "It is really tense. People are still under rubble. My immediate family, luckily, are fine.

"So far we've lost 16 wider family members and I expect another 14 of them under the rubble.

"There is still hope until it is confirmed otherwise.

"The reason I need to come over is to help as many people as I can. They're trying to evacuate the city at the minute, but different sources are saying there could be another earthquake. It isn't confirmed yet. Living conditions are really bad, there's no infrastructure.

"We will try to help people evacuate and if they allow us to do so, we will help the authorities on the rescue mission.

"It's not going to be easy. We're well aware of that. We want to help people get out of the town, we're willing to get in there and help dig people out."

Mr Yildrim and his brother said goodbye to family at Newcastle Central Station at the start of their journey.

"We were all going through all sort of emotions," he said.

"It was hard leaving the family behind but we were heading to help family as well. They are all right, they are holding up. It was hard, especially for our wives and kids.

"We are expecting to be here at least two weeks. We have responsibilities back home in the UK. We will try our best to accomplish what we came here to accomplish and go back to our families.

"It's not going to be very pleasant. Dead bodies bagged up waiting to be identified and people under buildings."

Mr Yildrim said he would be away from home for about two weeks

The UN said the rescue phase of its operations was "coming to a close", with the focus switching to caring for survivors.

Officials in Turkey said 113 arrest warrants have been issued in connection with the construction of buildings that collapsed in Monday's quake.