TURKEY EARTHQUAKE: Ankara Fire Department Crews Help Extinguish Raging Blaze At Port City

The video shows the moment Turkish firemen battle a raging fire at Port of Iskenderun that was triggered by the cataclysmic earthquakes that devastated the country.

The Ankara Fire Department immediately responded after one of the country's most important container ports - Iskenderun, in Hatay, Turkey - was covered in flames following the 7.8 magnitude earthquake on Monday, 6th February.

Video footage shared by the city of Ankara's mayor Mansur Yavas, 67, depicts the firefighters battling the fire out with water streams, as hundreds of shipping containers blast smoke into the sky.

The emergency crews reportedly struggled to access the fire at first, because of earthquake damage and nearby containers blocking their way.

But after they first extinguished it, the fire reportedly reignited once again, on Tuesday, 7th February.

Officials then deployed military helicopters and planes to bring the fire under control as fighting the flames from the land and sea turned out to be unfruitful.

Yavas said in a Twitter post obtained by Newsflash on Wednesday (8th February): "As Ankara Fire Department, we responded to the fire that broke out at Iskenderun Port at night with our foam tower and sprinklers."

The 67-year-old politician claimed that efforts to cool the site were under way.

Authorities urged all major shipping companies to divert their vessels to other terminals in the region after all operations at the port were shut down following the earthquake.

It has not been revealed whether the port will reopen to international ships soon.

The world's biggest shipping company, AP Moller Maersk, said: "We are currently planning to divert containers to nearby hubs within operational feasibility or hold at transhipment ports - including the Port of Mersin (in Turkey) and Port Said (in Egypt).

"It's not yet known how long recovery efforts will take and when the port can undergo a full inspection of the damage."

The 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit near the city of Gaziantep, in Gaziantep Province, Turkey, at 4.17 local time and at depth of 17.9 kilometres (11 miles).

It was followed by a second one - at a 7.7 magnitude - about 130 kilometres (80 miles) to the north.

The authorities have said that more than 22,000 people had been killed in Turkey and Syria as of Friday, 10th February.

Rescue missions are ongoing.