The York mother left on tenterhooks when she lost contact with her boyfriend following the Turkish earthquake said today she is to fly to the devastated country.

The Evening Press reported last month how Claire Swinburn, 25, spent days by the phone waiting for word of her Turkish boyfriend, whose family home was close to the epicentre of the quake.

Ms Swinburn, of Bishopthorpe Road, said that Tuesday's tremors, which have added more names to the list of more than 14,000 already confirmed dead, had panicked her boyfriend Ridvan's family.

Their home and businesses were destroyed by the first earthquake, and the Ekmecki family are among those crowded into gardens, parks and open spaces out of fear of venturing back indoors.

Ridvan is in the relative safety of the south of the country, but she said his family were clearly shaken by the aftershocks.

"He told me he had spoken to his father, who said to him 'you must come, we are scared, we need you'," said Ms Swinburn.

"They are stuck in the midst of it all."

She hopes to fly out with her three-year-old daughter, Katie, to meet with Ridvan at one of the holiday resorts untouched by the quake.

"He was supposed to be coming to England, but everything that has happened has ruled that out," she said.

"I feel safe going there, although my mum is really worried about us."

She said the horrors of the initial earthquake had taken their toll on her boyfriend.

"He just cannot find the words to describe what happened.

"One minute he is OK, then the next he is bewildered and frightened. They are so scared all the time."

A strong tremor and aftershock hit northwest Turkey.

The quake's magnitude was 5.2, the sharpest tremor since the hours just after the August 17 earthquake, which killed at least 14,202 people and left more than half a million homeless. Thousands of others are still missing.

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