According to official information, at least 18 people have died after the floods in south-east Turkey after more bodies were found. Rescue workers continue to find missing persons in the particularly affected cities of Sanliurfa and Adiyaman, said the Turkish Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu on Friday. According to him, 16 of the dead were recovered in Sanliurfa. The water in the city is polluted and undrinkable, Soylu told reporters in Sanliurfa.

In the capital of the province of the same name, which borders on Syria, residential buildings and clinics were temporarily under water after heavy rains at the weekend, and schools remained closed. Two people died in the floods in the neighboring province of Adiyaman.

Just five weeks after the earthquake, the water masses had flooded an already disaster-stricken region where thousands of people live in makeshift shelters such as tents. Local media see the main reasons for the severe flooding as the poor infrastructure and buildings along the river beds. Authorities warned of further heavy rain for the weekend.