ANKARA, February 10. /TASS/. The number of people killed by Monday’s devastating earthquake in Turkey has risen to 17,674, while 72,879 people were injured, Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay said on Thursday night.

"We regret to inform that the death toll has grown and now stands at 17,674, while 72,879 people were injured," he said in a speech aired by local TV channels.

A total of 121 people were pulled from the rubble alive in the past 24 hours, the vice president added.

Oktay said search and rescue efforts were completed in the provinces of Kilis and Sanliurfa.

"Relief missions in the provinces of Diyarbakir, Adana and Osmaniye are about to be completed. In the rest of the quake-hit provinces, efforts to rescue people from the rubble of collapsed buildings are still under way. Overall, more than 120,000 people are involved in this effort, including 29,600 people directly engaged in digging and clearing the debris," the vice president said.

A powerful 7.7-magnitude earthquake rocked Turkey’s Kahramanmaras province, located in the country’s southeast, on February 6. The tremors, followed by hundreds of aftershocks, were felt in ten provinces as well as in neighboring countries, including Syria.