Divers search for missing as toll from Turkey floods hits 79

Rescue teams working in area where Ezine Stream flows into Black Sea, local media report, more than a week after severe floods devastated parts of northwestern Turkey.

Rescue crews remove wreckage and mud after the deadly flash floods in Bozkurt district of Kastamonu, Turkey on August 16, 2021.
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Rescue crews remove wreckage and mud after the deadly flash floods in Bozkurt district of Kastamonu, Turkey on August 16, 2021.

A police boat and divers have joined the search for some 30 people still missing more than a week after severe floods devastated parts of Turkey's Black Sea coast, leaving at least 79 people dead. 

Torrential rains pounded the Black Sea provinces of Kastamonu, Sinop and Bartin in northwestern Turkey on August 11, causing floods that demolished homes and bridges, and swept away cars and blocked access to roads.

Turkish disaster management agency AFAD said on Friday that 69 people were killed dead in Kastamonu, nine in Sinop and one person in Bartin. 

Turkish channel Haberturk TV  said a police boat and police divers were searching for people still unaccounted for in an area where the Ezine Stream flows into the Black Sea, and where they fear the floods may have carried away some of the missing.

READ MORE: Death toll from flash floods in Turkey's Black Sea region rises to 77

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Search and rescue missions

More than 10,000 personnel were involved in search-and-rescue missions across the region as well as efforts to assist survivors, AFAD said. 

Nineteen trained dogs were also searching for the missing, it said.

The worst-hit area was the town of Bozkurt, in Kastamonu, where the floods swamped homes and shops, flattened an eight-story building and seriously damaged other buildings that are suspected of being improperly constructed on a streambed.

The contractor of the eight-story apartment building that collapsed was arrested on Wednesday and charged with "negligently causing death and injury."

At least four people — a woman and three children — died in the collapse. Several neighbours remain unaccounted for.

About 2,400 people were evacuated across the region amid the floods. Many are being temporarily housed in student dormitories.

READ MORE:Rescue efforts continue in Turkey's flood-hit areas as death toll climbs

Battling water and fire

The floods hit Turkey’s northern coast as hundreds of rescue workers were trying to tame wildfires racing across the country’s southern Mediterranean coast.

Climate scientists unequivocally say that climate crisis is leading to more extreme weather events as the world warms because of the burning of coal, oil and natural gas.,

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan last Friday visited the worst-hit flood area in Bozkurt and announced that places affected had been declared disaster zones and are slated for government aid.

READ MORE: Search for missing continues as death toll in Turkey floods rises

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