Eastern Turkey was struck by a 6.0-magnitude quake on Monday, killing 51 people.

The quake knocked down stone and mud-brick houses in at least six villages and toppled minarets.

Most residents in towns near the epicentre were sleeping when the earthquake hit, causing them to run as walls started to crumble.

Panicked residents fled as rocks and rubble started to hit the streets.

Aftershocks have since reached up to 5.5 magnitude and are still rattling the region around
the sparsely populated area of Elazig province.

The region is 550km east of Ankara.

The worst-hit village was in Okcular, where 19 of the village's 900 residents were killed when most buildings were totally flattened.

Local men have been using shovels and their bare hands to dig up bodies from the piles of dirt and rubble from wrecked houses.

Residents in the village had to light fires overnight to keep them from the winter cold.

Okcular is in a freezing area surrounded by snow-covered mountains.