Members of rescue services search in the debris of a collapsed building for survivors in Izmir, Turkey, early Oct 31, 2020. (EMRAH GUREL/AP)

IZMIR, Turkey - Rescue workers in western Turkish city of Izmir searched through rubble for survivors on Saturday after a powerful earthquake hit the Aegean Sea on Friday, as the death toll rose to 27.

Officials said 25 people were killed in coastal areas in Turkey's west, while two teenagers -- a boy and a girl -- died on the Greek island of Samos after a wall collapsed on them.

At least 20 buildings in Izmir were destroyed, authorities said, and the rescue work was taking place as hundreds of aftershocks hit the area.

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Television images and videos showed delicate work to rescue people from under the rubble. In central Izmir, rescuers were seeking to save a mother and her four children from the remains of a building.

Search and rescue operations were complete in eight buildings, while operations continued in nine locations, officials said.

At least 804 people were injured in Turkey, the country's disaster agency said. The area had been hit by some 470 aftershocks it said.

Members of rescue services cut cement and iron as they search in the debris of a collapsed building for survivors in Izmir, Turkey, Oct 31, 2020. (EMRAH GUREL/AP)

Ilke Cide, a doctoral student who was in Izmir’s Guzelbahce region during the earthquake, said he went inland after waters rose following the earthquake.

“I am very used to earthquakes ... so I didn’t take it very seriously at first but this time it was really scary,” he said, adding the earthquake had lasted for at least 25-30 seconds.

Crisscrossed by major fault lines, Turkey is among the most earthquake-prone countries in the world. More than 17,000 people were killed in August 1999 when a 7.6 magnitude quake struck Izmit, a city southeast of Istanbul. In 2011, a quake in the eastern city of Van killed more than 500.

Ismail Yetiskin, mayor of Izmir’s Seferihisar, said sea levels rose as a result of the quake. “There seems to be a small tsunami,” he told broadcaster NTV.

In a rare show of warmth between the two countries caught up in a bitter dispute over exploration rights in the eastern Mediterranean, Turkish and Greek leaders exchanged solidarity messages

Footage on social media showed debris including refrigerators, chairs and tables floating through streets on the deluge. TRT Haber showed cars in Izmir’s Seferihisar district had been dragged by the water and piled on top of each other.

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Idil Gungor, who runs a hotel in Izmir’s Seferihisar district, told broadcaster NTV that people were cleaning the debris after the floodwaters receded. She said fish had washed up on the garden of the hotel, around 50 meters from the shore.

Residents of the Greek island of Samos, which has a population of about 45,000, were urged to stay away from coastal areas, Eftyhmios Lekkas, head of Greece’s organization for anti-seismic planning, told Greece’s Skai TV.

“It was a very big earthquake, it’s difficult to have a bigger one,” said Lekkas.

Rescuers carry a man rescued from the debris of his collapsed house, in Izmir, Turkey, Oct 30, 2020. (SADIK CANGEL/IHA VIA AP)

High tidal wave warnings were in place in Samos, where eight people were also injured, according to a Greek official.

“We have never experienced anything like it,” said George Dionysiou, the local vice-mayor. “People are panicking.” A Greek police spokesman said there was damage to some old buildings on the island.

The leaders of Turkey and Greece - caught up in a bitter dispute over exploration rights in the eastern Mediterranean - spoke by phone late on Friday.

In a rare show of warmth between the two countries, Turkish and Greek leaders exchanged solidarity messages.

"I just called President (Tayyip Erdogan) to offer my condolences for the tragic loss of life from the earthquake that struck both our countries. Whatever our differences, these are times when our people need to stand together," Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis tweeted.

Volunteers search for survivors at a collapsed building after a powerful earthquake struck Turkey's western coast and parts of Greece, in Izmir, on Oct 30, 2020. (MERT CAKIR / AFP)

Erdogan responded in a tweet: "I offer my condolences to all of Greece on behalf of myself and the Turkish people. Turkey, too, is always ready to help Greece heal its wounds. That two neighbors show solidarity in difficult times is more valuable than many things in life."

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Cooperation between the two countries after a devastating earthquake in 1999 led to a period of warmer ties between them.

AFAD put the magnitude of the earthquake at 6.6, while the US Geological Survey said it was 7.0. It was felt along Turkey’s Aegean coast and the northwestern Marmara region, media said.

Relatives of potential victims wait as rescuers search for survivors among the rubble of a collapsed building after a powerful earthquake struck Turkey's western coast and parts of Greece, in Izmir, on Oct 31, 2020. (YASIN AKGUL / AFP)