Man arrested for trying to steal baby who survived Turkey earthquake

A man has been arrested in the Turkish province of Hatay as he tried to steal a baby from a hospital, taking advantage of the chaos created by the violent earthquake that devastated the south of the country, press reports Thursday.

The 55-year-old man, who came from Ankara, introduced himself as a former retired police officer at the reception of a private establishment in the city of Samandag and claimed a baby whose name he stated, official Anadolu agency reported.

In a video broadcast by the Turkish agency and widely picked up by Turkish channels, an apparently distressed man in a dark jacket comes up and asks for the baby before screams ring out to sound the alarm.

The suspect was then arrested and handcuffed.

The February 6 earthquake, with a magnitude of 7.8, devastated this province bordering Syria and killed nearly 40,000 people in Turkey and Syria.