Turkey detains man suspected of trying to kidnap baby after earthquake

Some parents in the region have expressed alarm over rumoured child kidnappings following the disaster

Patients are treated in a makeshift hospital set up at Turkish Bayraktar warship, anchored in a port near Iskenderun in southern Turkey. AP

Follow the latest news on the earthquake in Turkey and Syria

Turkish police have detained a man allegedly trying to steal a baby from a hospital in southern Turkey, state media reported, following the catastrophic earthquake that hit the region.

A 7.8-magnitude quake unleashed chaos in south-eastern Turkey and parts of Syria, killing nearly 40,000 people and displacing millions in both countries.

A man walked into a hospital pretending to be a police chief in the Samandag district of the quake-affected province of Hatay, the Anadolu state news agency said on Wednesday.

The hospital staff realised his police ID card was fake and called the real police, it added.

When officers detained the man, they found fake police and military ID cards, gold, and Turkish lira, dollars and euros worth about $6,500, Anadolu said.

The agency did not provide information about the baby.

Some parents in the region have expressed alarm over rumoured child kidnappings.

Turkish Family Minister Derya Yanik on Monday said at least 1,362 children had been separated from their families by the quake.

The latest incident comes days after gunmen stormed a hospital in northern Syria where Aya, a baby born in the rubble of the earthquake, is receiving care, a hospital official said.

The official told the Associated Press that the attackers beat up the clinic's doctor.