Avalanche kills one worker as heavy snow hits Turkey

At least one worker died and four others went missing in an avalanche in Turkey's northeastern Trabzon province on Jan. 10.
      
The avalanche hit a hydroelectric power plant in Çaykara district, local official Mustafa Gül told Anadolu Agency.

Trabzon Governor Abdil Celil Öz confirmed that one worker died in the incident, while several others remained under the avalanche. Disaster and emergency teams have been dispatched to the area.

Meanwhile, heavy snow closed many roads in hundreds of villages in Turkey Jan. 10, officials said.

According to local provincial officials, roads to 357 villages were closed because of heavy snow in eastern Anatolia. Transportation remained off the roads in 53 villages in Van, 140 in Muş, 160 in Bitlis and four villages in Hakkari.

The roads in 188 villages were also inaccessible in Rize in the Black Sea region. In southern Turkey's Kahramanmaraş region, snow level was two meters high.

In Tunceli, the roads of 206 villages were shutdown as well.
            
On Jan. 8, schools remained closed in the provinces of Düzce, Balıkesir, Çankırı, Bolu, Trabzon, Tokat, Elazığ and Erzurum because of strong winds and snow.
      
Temperatures dropped below zero this week in Ankara, Istanbul, İzmir, Balıkesir, Çanakkale, Manisa and a number of other Turkish provinces.