Seven Turkish Cypriots among those killed in earthquake in Turkiye

Siblings Arda and Ilknur Akbaba were reported to have died along with their mother Elif in the quake that affected Kahranmaras.

A total of seven Turkish Cypriots were reported dead on Tuesday from the large-scale earthquakes that devastated parts of Turkey and Syria on Monday.

According to reports by local media, a mother and her two children, a mother and her baby, and two men are among those reportedly killed in Monday’s earthquake.

In Antakya, Sheyma Koshe and her baby boy Poyraz were found dead in the wreckage of the quake, while in Hatay, coach of the Gocmenkoy football club Amac Arnavutoglu was reported to have died. He had been in Turkey for medical reasons.

A seventh young man, 18-year-old footballer Mehmet Gulen was also reported to have died in Hatay.

Siblings Arda and Ilknur Akbaba and their mother Elif died in the quake in Kahranmaras.

Meanwhile, a group of children from the Famagusta lyceum in the TRNC remained trapped under the rubble of their hotel for a second day on Tuesday the TRNC government sent another team of 100 rescuers to help clear the damage.

The children, around 25 boys and girls, were in Adiyaman for a volleyball tournament and had been staying at the Isias hotel at the time of the earthquake.

On Tuesday morning, a second rescue team of 100 rescuers departed from the north, while the ‘cabinet’ decided that a team would be sent to the hotel everyday to contribute in the rescue efforts of the Turkish Cypriots.

On Monday a first rescue team was sent from the TRNC to the area, as mass calls went out on social media from Turkish Cypriots to provide supplies for the quake affected areas.

Also on Monday night a flight arrived back with 17 other students and their parents, who had also been staying in Adiyaman but at a different hotel.

Children were tearfully greeted by their parents in the airport, where they had been waiting anxiously, reports from Haber Kibris said.

Cyprus Mail