Hundreds Feared Dead in Huge Turkish Landslides

Huge landslides roared through eastern Turkey today, sending tons of mud and rock crashing into houses, a school, a line of cars and a coffeehouse jammed with people stranded by an earlier slide, authorities said.

Officials said at least 150 people were killed. But the Red Crescent, the Muslim equivalent of the Red Cross, said the toll could reach 300.

Anatolia News Agency said the first landslide, at 2 a.m., rolled over a 5-mile stretch of road linking the mountain village of Torul and the Black Sea port of Trabzon.

That slide blocked the road and stopped traffic, forcing travelers in buses and other vehicles to seek refuge in a coffeehouse to wait for the road to be cleared.

‘Saw Mountain Coming’

About 8 a.m., a second landslide roared down the mountain overlooking the village of Catak, burying it and the coffeehouse, Anatolia said.

State radio reported that three bodies had been recovered so far and that 31 people were known injured in the disaster in Catak village.

“I saw the mountain coming over me and started running away,” Anatolia News Agency quoted a witness, Zeki Ilhan, as saying. When he looked back, Ilhan said, Catak village was gone. Not a building was visible, he said.

Numerous houses, four stores, the coffeehouse and a high school were buried, according to news agency reports.

The school was in summer recess, but the coffeehouse was packed.

Rain Hampers Rescue

Deputy Gov. Erkan Isilgan of Trabzon province said by telephone that rescue teams fear that the death toll will climb since so many people are missing.

Isilgan said rescuers are trying to find out whether the passengers included any foreign tourists.

Rain hampered rescue operations. Anatolia quoted an official supervising the rescue operation as saying it could take as long as two weeks to clear the debris if rainfall continues.

Public Works Minister Safa Giray, who flew to the site, told Anatolia News Agency that rescue teams might recover some people alive. “That is what we hope,” he said.

Rescuers Moving Slowly

The radio reported that rescue teams are moving slowly to search for victims because of threats of more landslides.

The dispatch said 40 trucks and 20 bulldozers are trying to drive away the mud and stone which covered the site.

The news agency said the landslides struck along a stretch of road where several cars had been waiting in line since just after midnight, when an earlier landslide blocked the highway.

Provincial Gov. Enver Hizlan was quoted as saying the army will be called in to help. The ministers of transportation and interior also were flying to Trabzon from Ankara.

Some landslides that have occurred in the area have been blamed on extensive deforestation.