Online Desk: Bangladesh is observing a daylong state mourning on Thursday (February 9) to condole the unimaginable loss of lives in a catastrophic earthquake in Turkey and Syria recently. All government, semi-government and autonomous organisations, educational institutions, government and non-government buildings and Bangladesh missions abroad are keeping the national flags at half-mast, demonstrating condolence, reports UNB.

Special prayers will be arranged for eternal peace of the departed souls. Earlier, the government issued a gazette in this regard on Wednesday. With hope fading to find survivors, rescue teams toiled through the night in Turkey and Syria, searching for signs of life in the rubble of thousands of buildings toppled by a catastrophic earthquake. The death toll on Thursday rose to more than 12,000 in the deadliest quake worldwide in more than a decade, reports AP.