57 arrested for looting, store owners empty their shops

Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said on Sunday that 57 people had been arrested for looting, as business owners in the Turkish city of Antakya cleared their stores to prevent their goods from being stolen by looters.

Two major earthquakes that occurred early Monday have claimed more than 33,000 lives in southern Turkey and northeastern Syria. The death toll will continue to rise as rubble from thousands of buildings has yet to be cleared.

In Antakya, residents and aid workers who had traveled from other cities reported a deterioration in the security situation and reported looting of stores and collapsed houses.

Some residents made homeless by the earthquake and now sleeping in their cars or tents reported that their valuable possessions, including gold, had been stolen.

Reuters saw several business owners putting merchandise in boxes, some unsure how they would move them from the area or where they would put them.

Yuksel Uzun, the owner of an electronics store, was loading boxes of merchandise, including chargers and phone cases, on to two trucks with help from several others.

"Our shop is in ruins. Swindlers and thieves have (looted) it. They took what they could. We are left with what they left behind," he said, taking a break from loading the trucks.