ISTANBUL: Five Syrian children and their parents died on Friday in a fire that struck a Turkish home they moved to after surviving last week’s earthquake, local media reported.
The Syrian family moved to the central region of Konya from the southeastern Turkish city of Nurdagi, which was badly hit by the February 6 temblor.
The death toll from the 7.8-magnitude quake has surpassed 41,000 across southeastern Turkiye and Syria, becoming the region’s deadliest natural disaster in centuries.
Anadolu state news agency said the Syrian family had moved in with their relatives in Konya after the quake, following a path taken by millions of others displaced by the disaster.
“We saw the fire but we could not intervene. A girl was rescued from the window,” resident Muhsin Cakir told Anadolu.
The five children who died were aged between four and 13, Anadolu said.
It was unclear whether the girl who was rescued was a member of the same family.
Turkiye is home to nearly four million Syrians.
Many of them live in southeastern regions devastated by last week’s disaster, which has claimed the lives of more than 38,000 people in Turkiye and nearly 3,700 in Syria, according to official figures.
Syrian family of seven dies in fire after surviving quake
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Syrian family of seven dies in fire after surviving quake
- The Syrian family moved to the central region of Konya from the southeastern Turkish city of Nurdagi which was badly hit by quake
Iran unrest persists, top judge warns protesters
- Demonstrations sparked by soaring inflation
- Western provinces worst affected
DUBAI: Iran’s top judge warned protesters on Wednesday there would be “no leniency for those who help the enemy against the Islamic Republic,” while accusing Israel and the US of pursuing hybrid methods to disrupt the country.
The current protests, the biggest wave of dissent in three years, began last month in Tehran’s Grand Bazaar by shopkeepers condemning the currency’s free fall.
Unrest has since spread nationwide amid deepening distress over economic hardships, including rocketing inflation driven by mismanagement and Western sanctions, and curbs on political and social freedoms.
“Following announcements by Israel and the US president, there is no excuse for those coming to the streets for riots and unrest, chief justice Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, the head of Iran’s judiciary, was quoted as saying by state media.
“From now on, there will be no leniency for whoever helps the enemy against the Islamic Republic and the calm of the people,” Ejei said.
Iranian authorities have not given a death toll for protesters, but have said at least two members of the security services have died and more than a dozen have been injured.
Iran’s western provinces have witnessed the most violent protests.
“During the funeral of two people in Malekshahi on Tuesday, a number of attendees began chanting harsh, anti-system slogans,” said Iran’s Fars, news agency.
After the funeral, Fars said, “about 100 mourners went into the city and trashed three banks ... Some started shooting at the police trying to disperse them.”
The semi-official Mehr news agency said protesters stormed a food store and emptied bags of rice, which has been affected by galloping inflation that has made ordinary staples increasingly unaffordable for many Iranians.
