As death toll in Turkey-Syria quake touches 20,000, actor Rayya Labib says she has lost 5 relatives till date in the tragedy

MUMBAI: Even as hundreds of survivors still remain trapped in biting cold, under the rubble of collapsed buildings and structures, Mumbai-based, Assam-born actor Rayya Labib who is of Turkish-Iranian origin said she has unfortunately lost 5 family members or distant relatives in the tragedy.

“My ancestors hail from Turkey and Iran. My great, great grandparents are from the two countries. To that extent we have distant relatives still living there. I have come to know that 5 people who were distantly related to me have perished in the earthquake that struck Turkey. Till Wednesday morning we had lost 4 distant cousins and on Thursday we learnt that one more body was pulled out of the debris, where their apartment once stood. I am extremely pained, disturbed and hurt with the tragedy that struck the nation. It seems more than 20,000 people have perished in the two nations. All I can do or say at this juncture is may their souls rest in peace,” Rayya said in a media statement.

Rayya said she had distant relatives residing in Hatay and in Diyarbakir in the eastern part of Turkey, where hundreds of buildings have collapsed due to the tremors.

Rayya was born and brought up in Assam and later moved to Mumbai to pursue a career in acting and modelling.

According to a Reuters report, hunger and despair gripped hundreds of thousands of people left homeless after the earthquakes that struck Turkey and Syria three days ago.

According to reports, some 6,500 buildings in Turkey collapsed and thousands more were damaged and cannot be repaired.

Turkish officials have claimed that 13.5 million people were affected in an area spanning roughly 450 km that was devastated by the massive quakes.