Police boat, divers search for missing from floods

Police boat, divers search for missing from floods

Police boat, divers search for missing from floods

A police boat and divers joined the search for some 15 people still missing more than a week after severe floods devastated parts of Turkey’s Black Sea provinces, as authorities have raised the death toll from the disaster to 82.

A total of 71 people were killed in Kastamonu province, 10 in Sinop province and one other in Bartin province, the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) said.

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

A police boat and police divers have been 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.

More than 10,000 personnel are involved in search and rescue operations across the region as well as are extending efforts to assist survivors, AFAD said, adding that 19 trained dogs were also searching for the missing.

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 and charged with “negligently causing death and injury.”

At least four people, a woman and three children, died in the collapse.

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