Body of Sri Lankan woman missing after Turkey quake found

COLOMBO: The body of a Sri Lankan woman, who had gone missing in Turkey after the devastating earthquake, has been found, Sri Lankan Embassy in Turkey said.

The 64-year-old woman, who had been working in Turkey for nearly 20 years, was earlier reported missing.

The daughter of the deceased had identified the body, Sri Lankan Ambassador in Ankara, Hasanthi Urugodawatte Dissanayake told media.

Earlier, Sri Lankan Embassy in Ankara had sought the assistance Turkish disaster response agency ASAD to locate the woman who was said to have been in an apartment which collapsed.

According to Urugodawatte, 15 out of 16 Sri Lankans who had been living in the areas affected by the quakes are in safe shelters.

About 270 Sri Lankans live in and around Ankara and Istanbul in Turkey.

Sri Lanka's Foreign Affairs Ministry has announced that there are no reports of Sri Lankans in Syria affected by the earthquakes that killed over 29,000.

Following India which was the first country to dispatch a heavy-lift aircraft and about 100 member contingent from the country's National Disaster Response Force to Turkey, Sri Lanka had expressed its readiness to send a trained military contingent of about 300 army personnel.

Sri Lankan Army stated that a contingent of 26 officers and other ranks, including the members of the army medical corps, engineering regiments and the Disaster Response Relief Operation unit, are ready to leave at any given time.

However, media reports indicated that there had been reluctance by the Turkish government on getting emergency relief from tropical countries which had limited exposure to rescue missions in harsh winter.

Sri Lanka had offered emergency assistance, recalling the humanitarian assistance extended by Turkey soon after the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami in the island nation.

Meanwhile, Sri Lankan Embassy in Turkey is planning to distribute tea to the worst-affected areas. With the assistance of the Sri Lanka Tea Board, the embassy is planning to send tea to areas such as Kahramanmaras, where survivors are suffering due to extreme cold winter, the Sri Lankan embassy stated.