The death toll from earthquakes in Turkey and Syria rose to more than 9,000 with tens of thousands injured, according to authorities, as a frantic rescue effort stretched into a third day following one of the region’s worst disasters in decades.

Rescue teams worked through the night to pull survivors from the rubble in towns and cities across southern Turkey and northern Syria, which were rocked by two powerful quakes and a series of aftershocks on Monday. Local television stations and newspapers showed harrowing scenes of disaster victims that underscored the mounting toll across the region.

Turkey’s death toll reached 7,108 on Wednesday, with authorities reporting that almost 41,000 people had been injured. In Syria, more than 2,000 people have died, according to reports from the government and civil defence officials in the rebel-controlled north-west.