Flood death toll increases to 41, 6 still missing

Fikriye Öztürk, who was one of 10 women riding in a van in which seven women had drowned while going to work last Wednesday, had been receiving treatment at Küçükyalı State Hospital but died on Sunday, increasing the number of women killed in the van to eight. The seven women, who were all working at a textile factory, were killed in İstanbul's Halkalı district on Wednesday, when they drowned in a van that flooded. The seven women were all in the rear of the van, which was designed to carry shipments rather than passengers. The owner and manager of the company were arrested recently on charges of "causing death by negligence."

The dead body of a 7-year-old girl, Gülseren Dursun, who went missing when flash floods hit İstanbul's Çatalca district on Tuesday, was also found by İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality search-and-rescue teams on Sunday.

Six people are still missing, although they are not expected to be found alive. Sixty-five-year-old Gülseren Dursun and her granddaughter 6-year-old Ceyda Gider have yet to be found by search-and-rescue teams. Gider's parents have also joined teams searching for the two females. Mother Alev Gider said she wants her daughter to be found, regardless of whether she is alive or dead.

The body of 8-year-old Berna Çakar, who went missing in the Saray district of Tekirdağ on Tuesday when the district was hit by flash floods, also has yet to be found. Search-and-rescue teams had to suspend their search efforts on Saturday due to heavy rain in the region. Efforts to find the little girl resumed on Monday. Noting that divers from the İstanbul Police Department have searched for the girl since Tuesday, officials said civil defense teams would continue searching for the girl.

In the meantime, search efforts have also failed to find the bodies of three people who were reported missing in İstanbul's Silivri district. Teams have been searching for the bodies of Hikmet Pekgürbüz, Nihat Serdiyol and a toddler, Dila Manav, who were swept away by fast-moving waters in the Selimpaşa neighborhood. Silivri District Governor Ahmet Mesut Demirkol said the search efforts are hampered by murky water. He stated that visibility is minimal and that it is impossible to see five centimeters below the surface. Demirkol also said public buildings were damaged by the flood in Silivri.