Nine Syrians, including eight children, died on the night of Tuesday to Wednesday November 9 in Bursa, a large city in northwestern Turkey, after a fire broke out in their apartment, local authorities announced.
“There are nine bodies inside. Eight of them are those of childrenBursa province governor Yakup Canbolat was quoted by the official Anadolu news agency as saying. Yakup Canbolat specified that the nine victims were Syrians.
The fire probably caused by a wood stove
According to Turkish media, the victims are a mother, her six children aged 1 to 10 and two nephews aged 11 and 12. The father, who was returning home at the time of the fire after attending a funeral in Istanbul, was intoxicated by smoke while trying to save his family, Anadolu reported.
The city’s mayor, Alinur Aktas, said in a tweet that the fire, which broke out shortly before midnight, was probably caused by a wood stove that was in the apartment where the family, a refugee in Turkey since 2017, took up residence a month and a half ago. Photos published by Alinur Aktas show a three-storey building with a blackened facade and surrounded by firefighters and rescue workers.
At least 3.7 million Syrian refugees officially live in Turkey, most of whom have arrived since the start of the war in Syria in 2011.