19 odd ways to die in Turkey
ISTANBUL
Five teenagers who were sea-cycling in the western Marmara resort of Kumburgaz went missing on Aug. 17. After days of searching for the missing teenagers, the body of Serdar Demir was found close to Marmara Island. Remaining pieces of the sea-bicycle were also found on the coast of a small town in the western province of Balıkesir. The finishing blow about the unfortunate event was when news came about a captain of a ferry who had refused to stop after passengers reported seeing the drowning teenagers waving for help in the stormy sea.
2. Hit by a goalpost:
A goalpost collapsed at an artificial football pitch and hit the head of 17-year-old Ahmet Özçadır, during a match in the western province of Kütahya on Sept. 4. Özçadır died in hospital on Sept. 5.
3. Drowning in a car:
On Aug. 6, in the Gültepe neighborhood of İzmir, Ümit Özkan died at the age of 16. Özkan drowned as he was trying to help a car that was stuck in the road due to the flood; he was swept away by the current and drowned after becoming submerged under a delivery truck.
4. A head-crushing iron door:
Erkan Koyuncu, a journalist for daily Sabah, was at Galatasaray’s football facilities in Istanbul to report on the team’s training when his head got stuck in the iron door of the facility. Despite all attempts, Koyuncu couldn’t be saved and passed away Aug. 2.
5. Burning in a public bus:
A public bus operating between Tuzla and Topkapı caught fire en route on July 27. The brakes of the bus didn’t work and the vehicle was careened along for 100 meters after bumping into a road barrier. A fire started at the back and spread to the rest of the bus. Four died and 15 were injured in the accident.
6. Falling into an elevator shaft:
Sudenur Reis, 7, was with her family in Trabzon on July 16. The family was looking for a house to rent, but Sudenur suddenly fell into an elevator shaft of a 10-story building. She was heavily injured and couldn’t be saved.
7. Inspector dies during inspection:
Construction inspector Naci Ayvalıoğlu, 29, and engineer Baki Güneş both fell from the fifth floor of a construction site during an inspection on June 13 and died.
8. Diving in the Bosphorus with a car:
A car fell into the sea as it was trying to board a ferry in Sirkeci on May 15. Ece Su Yılmaz, 5, and her grandmother died, while the mother and aunt of the little girl were rescued from the water.
10. Freezing to death while going to school:
Kemal Atabay, a second-grade student in Istanbul, was trying to walk the five kilometers home after school during heavy snow on Jan. 22, 2004. Atabay froze to death on the way.
11. Drowning while picnicking:
On Aug. 24, six people having a picnic near the Botan River in the eastern province of Siirt drowned because the water gates of the dam were opened. A similar accident occurred in the same place just three years ago, causing the death of three people.
12. Windowless house kills:
In the Ereğli district of Konya, a 40-day-old baby was found dead by 21-year-old mother Maviş Eşme. The baby had died from pneumonia in the house that didn’t have any windows.
13. Stuck between a tree and a public bus:
In July 2013, Gülfem Hande Türker, 31, got off a public bus at Beşiktaş Square in Istanbul. She was trying to cross the road when the driver of the bus made a maneuver which caused her to get become stuck between a tree and the bus. She died.
14. Forced work in sewage:
Zafer Açıkgözlü was a subcontracted worker at a construction site near Istanbul University Çapa Medical Hospital in 2013. Açıkgözlü was forced to clean a laboratory that was flooded with sewage water and got an infection that led to his death.
15. The killer toilet:
Efe Boz, 6, died in a kindergarten when a sink fell on top of him, cutting his carotid artery. The accident took place in May 2010 in Maltepe, Istanbul.
16. Drowning in a bus:
A company minibus picked up nine workers in Istanbul’s Halkalı neighborhood on Sept. 9, 2009, amid heavy rain. A flash flood overpowered the bus just before it arrived at the workplace. The three people sitting in the front were able to escape, but the seven women sitting in the back of the minibus drowned.
17. The torn ferry rope:
A ferry going from İzmir to Istanbul made a sudden maneuver as it was parking at the Sarayburnu dock on Aug. 20, 2007. A rope tied to the ferry was suddenly torn and killed 30-year-old security personnel Zekeriya Timur by hitting him on the head.
17. Piece of concrete hits head:
An actor was walking in the Şişli district of Istanbul on October 2011 when he was hit on the head by a piece of concrete that fell from a five-story building, killing him. Heavy rain had caused the building to crumble.
19. Drowning in sewage:
In 2007, 5-year-old Dilara Dumru fell into a sewage hole at a construction site in Istanbul’s Şirinevler neighborhood. The little girl lost her life, drowning in the sewage. Her body was found a kilometer away in the river bed.