Children’s day festivities in Turkey darkened by three deaths, inclement weather

A teacher died from a heart attack during the ceremonies at his school in the Black Sea province of Trabzon.

Veysel Alan, 56, could not be saved despite the efforts of the emergency teams in the school. 

A student also died from a heart attack while preparing for the celebrations at his school in southern province of Mersin. 

Batuhan Işık, 12, suffered a heart attack on April 22 during a rehearsal for the April 23 Children’s Day celebrations in the garden of his school He died in the hospital, while his Namık Kemal Secondary School cancelled the celebrations.

Another student, Elif Sude Karaüç, died after being struck by a car as she was walking to attend the April 23 ceremonies at her sister’s school in the Çilimli district of Düzce province. Karaüç saw her mother on the street and was attempting to cross the street in a rush when a car hit her. She died in the hospital while the celebrations were canceled in the district. 

Many people attended the celebrations of the 95th anniversary of the establishment of the Turkish parliament with several ceremonies across the country, despite poor weather conditions in many places. The celebrations were held indoors due to unexpected snow in the central province of Kayseri and the eastern province of Kars. In the southeastern province of Diyarbakır, ceremonies were conducted under tough conditions due to an electricity cut.