Death toll rises to seven, three still missing in floods

Many houses were demolished in Antalya’s Serik district due to floods. Search teams are working on to find the missing. AA Photo

The bodies of three of the six individuals who went missing in raging floods on Monday in the Haskızılören village of the Mediterranean province of Antalya were recovered Tuesday. A total of six people have been killed and scores injured due to the flooding caused by torrential rain in western Turkey since Sunday.

“Fighting against nature in every part of the world surpasses mankind’s technological prowess. This is no time for the blame game. It is time for solidarity,” said Antalya Metropolitan Mayor Mustafa Akaydın from the opposition People’s Republican Party (CHP).

The bodies of Hasan Bulut, 85, and Fatma Kutlu, 81, were found in the Gebiz district, while the body of another unidentified elderly man was also recovered in the vicinity of the Hacıosmanlı village, according to reports.

A group of nearly 100 people comprised of search and rescue teams, forest workers and volunteers were engaged in efforts to recover the remaining bodies from the village, which was devastated by storms and floods.

Antalya Food, Agriculture and Livestock Director Bedrullah Erçin said agricultural fields in 27 villages in the province were damaged by the floods.

Meanwhile, six Russians who ventured into stormy waters in the district of Datça in the southwestern province of Muğla onboard a sailboat were also rescued by the Coast Guard.

“I have crossed the oceans, but Datça is another [affair.] They told me before [we] set sail, but I did not want to believe it. Our sail was torn off with successive rough waves, [and] when our engine also broke down, I thought for a moment about whether we were going to die,” said Cpt. Oleg Dovgosa, an experienced mariner.

Compiled from the Anatolia news agency and the Doğan news agency stories by the Daily News staff