Thousands of people have been killed in Syria by the earthquake that struck its border region with Turkey on February 6 but aid has been slow to reach the most affected areas.

Turkey began legal action over some building collapses

Officials and medics said 24,617 people were killed in Turkey and 3,574 in Syria. The confirmed total now stands at 28,191

Tens of thousands of rescue workers are still scouring through flattened neighbourhoods despite freezing weather that has deepened the misery of millions now in desperate need of aid

The longer of the two ruptures stretches 300 kilometres (190 miles) northeast from the Mediterranean Sea's northeastern tip.

Rescuers pulled a two-month-old baby and an elderly woman from the rubble on Saturday, five days after an earthquake devastated Turkey and Syria, leaving more than 25,000 dead

His visit came five days after a devastating 7.8-magnitude earthquake rocked Turkey and Syria, killing nearly 25,000 people including at least 3,553 in war-torn Syria alone

The United Nations World Food Programme appealed for $77 million to provide food rations to at least 590,000 newly displaced people in Turkey and 284,000 in Syria.

Bangladesh's combined team rescued a teenage girl alive and recovered three bodies from the rubble

A cargo plane of Bangladesh Air Force, loaded with tents, blankets, sweaters, dry foods, and medicines, left for Syria tonight

The Syrian government said it had approved the delivery of humanitarian aid to areas outside its control in the rebel-held areas

Rescuers pulled children alive Friday from the rubble of the Turkey-Syria earthquake as the toll surpassed 22,000 and bitter cold compounded the suffering of the homeless

The 46-member team were heading by bus to Adiyaman, around 350km away from the city of Adana

Relatives were left scouring body bags laid out in a hospital car park in Turkey's southern city of Antakya to search for missing relatives, an indication of the scale of the tragedy.

At least 19 Bangladeshi students have been shifted to Ankara from Gaziantep, one of the most affected regions of Turkey, which suffered a major earthquake killing over 17,000 people since Monday.

Says current envoy

Bangladesh last night sent a 61-member rescue team to Turkey, which has seen more than 15,000 deaths in the earthquake and its aftermath.

Some of the heaviest devastation occurred near the quake's epicentre between Kahramanmaras and Gaziantep, where entire city blocks lay in ruins.

"The Bangladesh government has declared one day of state mourning marking the deaths in the earthquake in Turkey and Syria. To observe the day of mourning, the peace rally programme of Dhaka City (north) unit Awami League has been postponed," reads a press release of the AL unit, signed by William Proloy Samaddar, its office secretary.

AFP reporters were unable to access the social media network across Turkey. It still worked using VPN services that disguise a user's location.