Three Dutch people reportedly among those killed in Turkey-Syria earthquakes
A Dutch man on holiday visiting his family in Turkey was identified as one of the victims killed in the earthquakes that struck Turkey and Syria this week. Esat Furkan Kazci, 26, died in Kahramanmaraş, about 60 kilometers north of the epicenter for the 7.8-magnitude earthquake that rocked the area early Monday morning. Two others who were visiting the town of Antakya, Hamis Köse, 87, and his son, Yilmaz Köse, 53, were also reportedly killed.
Hundreds of aftershocks and earthquakes struck the region since 4:15 a.m. on Monday. Over 11,600 were killed as the result, including over 9,000 in Turkey, where people were becoming more critical of their country's response to the disaster.
"Rest in peace my dear, you broke our hearts," Kazci's sister, Melek, said in a message posted to Facebook. She expressed remorse that it was yet another life lost because help did not arrive in time.
"Unfortunately, we have received the sad news that Esat Furkan Kazci has passed away. May God reward him with his mercy," his football club, Turkse Kracht Deventer, said in messages on Facebook and Instagram. "We wish his family and friends very much strength. As an association, we are also deeply impacted." The Centrum Moskee, a mosque in Deventer, also expressed its grief, and said it was praying for him and his family.
Three members of the Köse family from Zutphen were on a business trip, and were also visiting family in Antakya at the time of the earthquakes, according to De Gelderlander. Two of the three lost their lives, surviving relatives informed the broadcaster.
Another of Hamis Köse's sons, 49-year-old Sal Köse, was believed to be alive under the rubble of a residential complex. The family have made appeals to the Dutch Urban Search and Rescue team on the ground in Turkey asking them to help rescue the man.
His Dutch wife and their two children are currently trying to get to Turkey, NOS said.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has not yet confirmed Kazci's death, nor the deaths of the Köses. A total of seven Dutch people were known to be missing in Turkey, including Kazci. Contact was eventually made with an eighth person who had been missing. The ministry has not learned of any missing Dutch people in Syria.