FIBA sends its condolences to quake-hit Turkey

By Can Erozden

ANKARA (AA) - World basketball governing body FIBA offered its condolences Monday to the head of the Turkish Basketball Federation (TBF) over last week’s deadly earthquake in Turkey's Aegean region.

"Dear President, it is with sadness that we have learned of the devastating earthquake that hit Turkey a few days ago," said FIBA President Hamane Niang in his letter to Hidayet Turkoglu.

"Our thoughts are with those who perished in this natural disaster, and we kindly ask you to convey our condolences and sympathy onward to the local authorities, both governmental and basketball, in the affected area of Izmir and its surroundings," Niang added.

The death toll in Turkey from Friday’s powerful magnitude 6.6 earthquake has risen to 98, the country’s disaster agency said Monday.

Some 1,323 aftershocks have hit the area since the quake, with 43 of them above magnitude 4.0, said the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD).

It added that 994 people were injured, with 847 of them discharged from hospitals and 147 still being treated.

The earthquake jolted Izmir, Turkey’s third-largest city, with a population of some 4.37 million.