Search for survivors ends as avalanche kills 11 trekkers in Turkey
Güncelleme Tarihi:
Eleven mountaineers have been killed and one injured after they were caught up in an avalanche while camping on Zigana Mountain in Turkey’s Black Sea province of Gumushane on Sunday. Officials called off a search for survivors by late afternoon, Anatolian Agency reported. (UPDATED)
"The death toll from the avalanche has reached 11," Minister for Public Works Faruk Nafiz Ozak told reporters.
Six mountaineers were pulled out alive, one has been taken to hospital for treatment and 11 perished after being caught up in the avalanche, broadcaster NTV said.
The threat of another avalanche still continues, officials in the region said, adding that the avalanche may have been caused by unusually warm temperatures loosening the snow on the ground.
Two shots were heard just moments before the avalanche, witnesses also told CNNTurk.
The hikers had been part of a group of between 15 and 20 people walking in a deep valley at a height of the 7,200-foot (2,200-meter)
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"We were walking and before we realized what was going on, the avalanche came on us," Ural Ayar, one of the survivors, told NTV television by telephone. "The snow dragged our friends along and unfortunately they were buried."
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The group were members of a mountaineering club from the nearby
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Gumushane Governor Enver Salihoglu said that about 50 rescuer workers, including military and private mountain rescuers assisted by sniffer dogs, had taken part in the search efforts.