More than 15,000 people have been killed and thousands more injured as efforts continue for a third day in freezing conditions to save those still trapped under rubble.

Officials and medics said 12,391 people had died in Turkey and 2,992 in Syria, bringing the total to 15,383.

Initial rescue efforts were hampered by a winter storm that covered major roads in ice and snow and left three key airports in the area inoperable, complicating deliveries of vital aid.

However, survivors are still being pulled from collapsed buildings.