ERZINCAN (Turkey), Mar 14 : Turkey declared a state of emergency in an eastern province today after a strong earthquake toppled tall buildings and burled hundreds of people, reports Reuter.

State minister Erman Sahin said rescuers had found 276 bodies since the 30-second tremor ripped through the city of Erzincan and surrounding towns and villages on Friday evening.

He told reporters in Erzincan the death toll could double when all the victims had been pulled from the rubble.

It was like Hiroshima. A dust cloud rose above the whole city', said Journalist Mustafa Atcsm who was outside Erzincan when the quake

struck. The road lurched under my car and I saw a bus and a taxi plunge into the Euphrates river.

President Turgut Ozal and Prime Minister Suleyman Demirel flew separately to the stricken city, where more than 2,500 troops and 600 medical staff joined rescue efforts.

In Ankara, the government declared a state of emergency to speed relief and reconstruction. We have taken this decision to heal the wounds In Erzincan. said cabinet spokesman Akin Gonen.

The Turkish Red Crescent sent cargo planes with 3,000 tents. 17.000 blankets, a 200-bed mobile hospital, four field kitchens, six generators, 29 tonnes of food and 1,400 units of blood.

AFP adds: The death toll from Friday's earthquake tn eastern Turkey could reach 4,000. the International Federation of the Red Cross and the Red Crescent said Saturday, citing reports from a representative at the scene and Turkish Red Crescent

Local officials have so far reported only 300 confirmed dead while rescue workers said Saturday, nearly 24 hours after the quake, that initial es ttmates of 1,000 killed represented a maximum figure.

AP adds : Cries from people trapped In the rubble were heard Saturday as rescuers searched for survivors caught In buildings that collapsed In an earthquake that killed at least 570 people in eastern

Turkey.

Dozens of villages remained cut off Saturday, making an accurate death and damage assessment impossible from the quake that was estimated a strong as 6.8 on the Richter scale.

The drama of the rescue operations was brought home to Turks who watched as a Turkish television reporter in Erzincan called out for survivors in the ruined city and a voice ■screamed back that 20 people were trapped and waiting to be saved.

State television showed a father weeping amidst the rubble. "Oh. my children,' he cried.

Sixty students remained burled under the wreckage of a medical school in the city center.

The semi-official Turkish news agency, Anatolia, reported that at least 500 bodies had been recovered In Erzincan and the governor of Erzincan province. Fikret Cubadaroglu. said another 78 people were reported dead in towns in the eastern port of the province.

Anatolia said 517 peoplh were injured, 251 of theqj hospitalized.