At least 17 journalists lost their lives in a powerful earthquake that hit Turkey last week, local media reported on Monday, citing a column by veteran journalist and media ombudsman Faruk Bildirici.
Turkey’s most powerful earthquake in almost 100 years struck near the city of Gaziantep as people slept on Feb. 6, killing 31,643 people and injuring more than 80,000 across 10 southeastern provinces hit hardest by the disaster, according to the latest official figures.
The 7.8-magnitude quake was followed by dozens of aftershocks, including a 7.5-magnitude temblor that struck the region in the middle of search and rescue efforts the same day.
Bildirici on Monday said in a column for the T24 news website that journalists Ayşe Figen Arlı, Aziz Çevlik, Burak Alkuş, Burak Milli, Gökhan Aklan, Hidayet Özdemir, İskender Korkut, İzzet Nazlı, Kemal Öner, Meltem Özgen, Muhammed Akan, Mustafa Yüzbaşıoğlu, Neşet Alkan, Ruhi Akan, Yunus Emre Doğan, Zübeyir Pektaş and Fatih Bayın died in last week’s massive quakes.
The media ombudsman added that journalist Akın Bodur, the Turkish Journalists’ Association (TGC)’s representative in the İskenderun district of Hatay – one of the provinces hardest hit by the quakes – was rescued from the rubble and that he was undergoing treatment for his injuries at a local hospital.