Emergency service members dig in the snow around at least three overturned vehicles, near the town of Bahcesehir. AFP

Turkish quake death toll hits 38 as teams hunt for survivors

Turkey's Disaster and Emergency Authority (AFAD) said 33 emergency workers died when the second avalanche hit while they were searching for two more victims of the first snowslip, which killed five people, after rescuing eight others. Fifty-three people were injured, it said.

Emergency service members work in the snow around overturned vehicles, near the town of Bahcesaray. AP

Wednesday's avalanche increased the overall death toll from the disaster to 38.

Strong earthquake strikes eastern Turkey

Some 300 emergency service workers were called to a highway near the mountain-surrounded town of Bahcesaray in Van province, which borders Iran, after an avalanche struck late on Tuesday. That snow slide killed five people and left two missing. Around noon on Wednesday, the team was struck by the second avalanche.

Turkish soldiers and locals try to rescue people trapped under an avalanche in Van province. Reuters

The AFAD said 33 bodies were recovered from the mass of snow on the steep slope.

Earlier, Governor Mehmet Emin Bilmez said the dead included eight military police officers, three government-paid village guards, three firefighters and nine volunteers.

Emergency teams were still searching for other colleagues under the snow, Bilmez said. He did not provide a figure of how many more could be missing.

Security officers and villagers try to save victims of an avalanche near the town of Bahcesehir. AFP

Some 30 emergency workers were either pulled out of the heap of snow or escaped themselves and were hospitalised on Wednesday, the Interior Ministry said. There was no further information on their condition.

Video from the scene showed at least three overturned vehicles at the bottom of a hill during a snowstorm. Some rescuers were struggling to climb out of a steep incline while others dug frantically into the snow with shovels and pick-axes. Fog, heavy snow and strong winds were hampering the rescue efforts.

Security officers and villagers carry a victim of an avalanche near the town of Bahcesehir. AFP

The head of AFAD's operations in Van province, Osman Ucar, was among those injured. Speaking from his hospital bed, he said he was dragged along with an excavator that was toppled by the sliding snow.

"I was half-buried,” he said, adding that he escaped on his own.

The first avalanche buried a snow-clearing vehicle and a minibus. The vehicle's operator and seven passengers escaped alive.

The state-run Anadolu Agency said the driver, Bahattin Karagulle, was trapped beneath the snow for 25 minutes before he managed to break a window and escape. He walked toward a village to get help before being picked up by a passing vehicle.