Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said at a press conference on Monday that the death toll from the strong earthquakes that hit the country’s south on February 6 had risen to 48,448.

Soylu specified that 6,660 of the dead were foreign citizens, Telesur clarifies.

The head of the Turkish Interior Ministry, accompanied by the Minister of Culture and Tourism Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, also assured that the work to remove garbage continues.

On February 6, earthquakes measuring 7.7 and 7.6 shook southern Turkey and northern Syria, affecting 11 Turkish provinces; including Kahramanmaras, Adiyaman, Elazig, Hatay, Kilis and Sanliurfa.

The incident affected more than 13.5 million people in Turkey, and according to the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), this figure includes at least 1.7 million Syrian refugees under temporary protection.