Four more bodies found as number of TRNC citizens killed in Adıyaman increased to 16

The TRNC Prime Ministry on Friday announced that the bodies of four more people of the TRNC volleyball team were found from under the wreckage of the Isias Hotel as a result of the search and rescue efforts carried out by the country at the site of the earthquake in Turkey.

The statement issued by the Prime Ministry said “as a result of the search and rescue efforts carried out at the wreckage of the Isias Hotel in Adıyaman after the earthquake disaster in Türkiye, we have found the bodies of four more of our children from the TRNC team. May God have mercy on our children. We express our condolences to all our people. Our teams continue their work. With this loss, the number of TRNC citizens in Adıyaman has increased to 16.

The double earthquake disaster that hit Türkiye on Monday, Feb. 6 has led to the death of over 21,000 people both in Turkey and Syria with citizens of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus among the casualities.

The bodies of 10 people from the TRNC group have been brought back to the TRNC and will be laid to eternal rest on Friday.

The TRNC Minister of National Education Nazım Çavuşoğlu who spoke to the BRT over the phone on Thursday evening said that the work on the wreckage of Adıyaman İsias Hotel, where the Gazimağusa Türk Maarif College athletes are located, will be completed in two days.

He noted that the work continued uninterrupted and that all teams were working 24 hours a day.

“There is an extraordinary work” Çavuşoğlu said and added that the work continues with 7 excavators and other construction equipment.

On Friday morning, Çavuşoğlu noted that a total of 54 people have been removed from the wreckage at Adıyaman İsias Hotel so far.

Noting that the work continues uninterruptedly, he said that bodies removed from the rubble are identified by DNA testing in accordance with international procedure, although they are identified by families.