The bodies of a teacher and his two young children aged four and two have been pulled from Turkey’s earthquake rubble.

Ugur Yilmaz, 32, and his children reportedly died after being engulfed in the quake in the Altinozu district of Hatay, Turkey.

His wife and the mother of the children, Melike Yilmaz, was reportedly pulled from the rubble, injured but alive.

Ugur, Melike, their son Mert, four and their daughter Inci, two, were trapped in the debris of their collapsed building during the quake on 6th February.

Rescuers found the family a day later (7th February) as they searched buildings in the devastated city.

They could only confirm that the father and two children had been crushed to death.

The bodies of the teacher and his children are reportedly going to be taken to the Ermenek district of Karaman, the hometown of the Yilmaz family.

Emergency workers are battling against the clock to save people from the rubble, with the international community sending in numerous experts to assist.

Turkey’s Vice President Fuat Oktay said this morning, on Tuesday, 7th February, that the total death toll in Turkey and Syria now exceeds 5,000 people, with 3,549 people dead in Turkey and more than 1,600 people in Syria.

The total number of injured at the time of writing was 20,534 in Turkey alone.

The 7.8 magnitude earthquake that struck early on Monday morning in southern Turkey, devastating the south of the country and northern Syria, has been described by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as one of the worst disasters in decades.

A second earthquake of 7.5 magnitude hit the same region again at noon Monday, causing even more damage.

More than 11,000 buildings have reportedly collapsed in Turkey, with damage and destruction spanning a border region of approximately 650 miles.

Volunteer rescue workers in northern Syria have said that they lack the most basic equipment to rescue those trapped under the rubble of their homes.