Nine people were found dead in Turkey after violent storms and eleven sailors were still missing in the Black Sea, the Turkish Interior Minister announced on Monday.
“Nine of our fellow citizens died due to the storms (…) and extreme rains,” Ali Yerlikaya said during a press conference in Zonguldak province (northwest), where four people were found dead.
Five more people, including three children, died in floods in the southeastern provinces of Batman and Diyabakir, he said.
The body of one of the 12 missing Turkish sailors off the coast of Eregli, a port in Zonguldak province, was found on Monday morning, he said.
The Turkish-flagged Kafkametler ship sank after hitting a breakwater while leaving the port of Eregli, about 200 kilometers east of Istanbul, on Sunday morning, Yerlikaya said.
Search operations that were previously impossible due to weather conditions were launched on Monday, he announced.
Another Cameroon-flagged ship broke in two under the force of waves in Eregli on Sunday after its entire crew was safely evacuated.
According to the Interior Minister, wind speeds of 130 to 140 km/h swept across the area and formed waves eight to nine meters high.