Live updates: Rescuers fight bitter cold and time as Turkey, Syria quake deaths near 8,000

© Alice Martins for The Washington Post A rescue worker comforts a grieving woman in Nurdagi, Turkey, on Tuesday.

Rescue efforts have ramped up in Turkey and Syria, with many people still trapped under rubble more than 48 hours after a pair of large earthquakes leveled cities and towns Monday. The operations took place amid inclement weather, with temperatures in Gaziantep, near the epicenter in southern Turkey, dropping to the low 20s overnight. More than 7,000 soldiers have been dispatched on disaster and relief duties in Turkey, the country’s defense minister said. The death toll in the two countries soared to nearly 8,000 early Wednesday, with the majority of the casualties reported in Turkey.

12:01 AM: Death toll in Turkey, Syria earthquakes rises to nearly 8,000

© Sedat Suna/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock Emergency personnel and locals search for survivors at the site of a collapsed building in the Elbistan district of Kahramanmaras, southeastern Turkey. (Sedat Suna/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock)

The death toll from two massive earthquakes and scores of aftershocks has risen to nearly 8,000 in Turkey and Syria, officials said, as rescuers continue to comb the rubble for survivors in freezing temperatures.

Turkey’s vice president, Fuat Oktay, told reporters early Wednesday that 5,894 people have been killed and 34,810 injured. In government-controlled parts of Syria, at least 812 people were killed and 1,449 injured, according to state media. In the rebel-held northwest of Syria, civil defense workers reported more than 1,220 deaths and more than 2,600 injured, a number they said they expected to rise “significantly” as hundreds remain buried under the rubble.

“The loss of every citizen deeply saddens us,” Oktay said, according to state news agency Anadolu.

The vice president estimated that as many as 5,775 buildings had collapsed. Some 8,000 people have been pulled from the rubble.

By: Rachel Pannett

12:00 AM: Video shows heavy damage to historic citadel in Syria’s Aleppo

Video shows heavy damage to historic citadel in Aleppo

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Footage released Tuesday shows heavy damage to the citadel of Aleppo in Syria, considered one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world.

Parts of the minaret of the mosque inside the structure had been severed, and a pillar identified by local architect Mohammed al-Rifaei as the “sheep tower” was reduced to rubble.

“We had repeatedly asked for the restoration of the tower,” Rifaei said, “but now it needs to be rebuilt from scratch.”

The citadel is part of the ancient city of Aleppo, which is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Several buildings in the fortress and gardens in the Turkish city of Diyarbakir also collapsed, UNESCO Director General Audrey Azoulay said in a statement.

By: Joe Snell