Istanbul man drowns in Bosphorus

ISTANBUL – Doğan News Agency

A young man in Istanbul drowned yesterday after falling off the pier in the city’s popular coastal district of Beşiktaş.

Twenty-two-year-old Emrah Yavuz was reportedly consuming alcohol with two friends when he fell into the sea after losing his balance.

Eyewitnesses said people around him jumped into the sea to save him immediately and that maritime police joined the rescue works.

Yavuz, however, was pronounced dead when he was taken out of the sea.

Ümit Gençtürk, one of the men who tried to rescue Yavuz, said he did his best to save the man but was unable to do so despite briefly catching his hand.

“Then police arrived, but he had already passed away. He probably was in the water for 20 minutes,” he said.

His body was sent to the Forensic Medicine Institute (ATK) for an autopsy.

More than 30 people drowned in Turkey’s seas and lakes last week, with 13 deaths on Aug. 11.