A person walks in a devastated street of Antakya after the deadly quake, in Feb. 2023. (Credit: Mohamad Yassin / L'Orient Today)
At least nine Lebanese citizens died and six others remain missing after the deadly earthquake that hit the south of Turkey, according to a provisional official report provided by the Lebanese embassy in Ankara on Tuesday evening.
In a statement, the Foreign Affairs Ministry confirmed "nine Lebanese died in Turkey," noting that "the remains of three [of the dead] were transferred to Lebanon while the others were buried in Turkey."
"Six people are still missing and it is likely that they are still under the rubble," the statement added, noting that "70 [Lebanese] people have been confirmed safe and sound."
A rumor spread over recent days that there were still 40 missing Lebanese, but the embassy clarified this figure "likely [includes] Syrians and Palestinians among them."
The embassy said it would "continue to monitor the latest developments regarding the fate of the Lebanese on a daily basis in order to update the figures mentioned."
The ministry did not provide data on the victims found in Syria, where the situation remains vague both in terms of numbers and the progress of rescue operations.
On Sunday, a source at the Lebanese embassy in Syria told L'Orient-Le Jour that "it is very difficult to have a precise figure on the Lebanese living in the affected Syrian areas because relations with Syria are different from those with Turkey, where the Lebanese are generally expatriates who work and are registered at the embassy."
Since the earthquake, three Lebanese deaths have been confirmed in Syria: a Lebanese-Syrian mother and her Lebanese daughter, buried in Syria, and a Lebanese priest in Aleppo whose body was repatriated to Lebanon.
Described by the World Health Organization as the "worst natural disaster in a century in Europe," the 7.8 magnitude earthquake has already killed more than 35,000 people in Turkey and Syria.
On Monday, a Lebanese girl was found alive in Turkey almost a week after the disaster.
