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Location of missing person brings death toll in Turkey’s flash floods to 8

Uprooted trees are piled up next to destroyed house as rescue teams search for a missing person after a flood hit bungalow homes in the Igneada district of Kirklarel, on September 7, 2023. - Storms have killed at least 14 people in Greece, Turkey and Bulgaria, with a Greek region hit by more rain in 24 hours than it normally sees in a year, officials said September 6, 2023. Turkish emergency services said five people have died and one was missing in floods that hit the northwestern city of Kirklareli. (Photo by Ozan KOSE / AFP)

Fatalities due to flash floods caused by torrential rains that began on Tuesday evening in northwestern Turkey have risen to eight with the location of a missing person, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported.

The body of Ahmet Baki Şimşek was found by search and rescue teams on Thursday. He was one of a number of holiday-makers staying at a vacation site with 18 bungalows in the town of İğneada in Kırklareli province.

Five other vacationers in the area who were staying in bungalows were also killed when the flash floods hit the site, which was reportedly illegally built.

Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç announced on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Wednesday that a detention warrant has been issued for the owner of the vacation site on charges of negligent homicide after it was found that the bungalows were illegal constructions.

Deputy Interior Minister Munir Karaloğlu also said an investigation had been launched into safety condition at the tourist site.

The other two victims were in İstanbul, where flash floods from the torrential rains turned the streets into raging rivers on Tuesday evening.

The rains followed a particularly dry summer that saw the reservoirs of the city of 16 million fall to nine-year lows.

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