Six bodies found in Antalya’s shores in five days

ANTALYA

Turkish authorities on Jan. 21 discovered another body on the beach of a hotel in the southern province of Antalya, bringing the number of bodies found on the city's beaches to six in the last five days, raising concerns and speculations regarding the incident.

After hotel staff reported a lifeless body on the shore to the security forces at around 10:30 a.m., the police and health professionals confirmed that the body found was of a male without giving further information on the incident.

Five bodies had previously been found across different beaches in a 73-kilometer area in Antalya, with officials noting that some bodies were unidentifiable as they were severely damaged, while others exhibited signs of dismemberment.

After the discovery of a child and an adult corpse on the beaches of Alanya and Manavgat on Jan. 17, two bodies were found in Manavgat and one in Serik on Jan. 20.

Following the possibility that the female body found in Serik might be of 18-year-old Merve Şevval Elmas, who went missing in Antalya 13 days ago, her family from Istanbul arrived in the city for DNA sampling.

As the recent cases of washed-up bodies on Antalya's shores sparked discussions in the country, local media indicated that investigative police officers are considering the possibility that the incident could be linked to the sinking of a boat carrying illegal migrants.

The Turkish coasts have been a major route for irregular migrants trying to cross to Europe, especially since the beginning of the Syrian civil war in 2011. Several human rights organizations have described the Mediterranean as the deadliest migration route.