Body of worker found in lake as search goes on in eastern Turkey
Hurriyet.com.tr
A man looks upon the lake as a helicopter searches for the missing workers. DHA photo
The body of one of the five workers who fell in a dam reservoir was recovered today as search continued to find the bodies of the remaining workers.Five workers are missing after their pedal boat capsized yesterday in the Karasu 2 dam reservoir in the Aşkale district of the eastern province of Erzurum.
Workers Feridun Öztürk, Mustafa Arifoğulları, Sait Turan, Rıdvan Takım and Şahin Baykal from the Turkish Electricity Distribution Company (TEDAŞ) had embarked on a pedal boat to repair a power line on the reservoir, but the boat reportedly hit ice on the lake surface and capsized.
After the accident, witnesses said the workers held onto ice that had covered most of the lake's surface and waited for help. Some workers wept while people on the shore attempted to calm them down. The five disappeared from sight after darkness fell, witnesses said.
Authorities launched a search and rescue operation that included a helicopter and seven divers immediately after the accident, Aşkale District Gov. Asalet Karabulut said.
Rescue efforts failed to find any trace of the workers, and the search was halted at 1 a.m. before being continued after daybreak at 6 a.m. this morning.
