Tragedy in Samsun: A Family Under Rocks

The Kaya Family, consisting of 4 people living in Bağcılar district of Istanbul, moved to their hometown Samsun about a year ago. During a visit the other day, they started to head back home.

Adem Kaya (35), who works as a CNC operator in a factory, wanted to wash his car by entering a gas station next to a shopping mall in Canik district around 22:30. While Adem Kaya was washing the car, his daughters Açelya (7) and Alya (5) stayed in the car, and his wife Çiğdem Kaya (29) waited nearby.

After a while, the soil above the car wash section slid down from the mountain softened by the rain that had fallen before. The moving rock pieces in the landslide fell on top of the car wash section. The car where the Kaya couple and their daughters were, got trapped under the wreckage of rocks and the roof that collapsed due to the rocks. Upon notification, a large number of search and rescue, health, fire, and police teams were dispatched to the scene.

The teams raced against time to reach the family. As a result of the efforts, around 01:30, the injured mother Çiğdem Kaya was rescued from the wreckage and taken to the hospital. However, the lifeless bodies of the father Adem Kaya and the daughters Açelya and Alya were found under the large rocks. Çiğdem Kaya, whose arms and legs were broken, underwent surgery at 02:00 yesterday. It was reported that the mother’s health condition is good.

An investigation has been launched. Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç, in a statement on his social media account regarding the landslide in Samsun, said, “I extend my condolences to our citizens who lost their lives as a result of the landslide at a gas station in Canik district of our Samsun province, and wish a speedy recovery to our citizen who was rescued injured from the debris.” The Samsun Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office initiated a judicial investigation into the incident, and 1 Deputy Chief Prosecutor and 1 Public Prosecutor were assigned.

Following the incident, gas station responsible manager K.Y. (62) and gas station owner M.Z.G. (70) were detained. After the procedures at the police station, M.Z.G. was arrested, while K.Y. was released on judicial control.

Moreover, around 18:00 yesterday, small-scale soil and rock sliding began next to a 5-story building. The family living on the ground floor of the 5-story building was evacuated precautionarily by the teams against the risk of landslides.

An interesting point was the ‘Emergency Assembly Area’ sign in the area where the landslide occurred. It was reported that the business designated this area as an emergency assembly area for its employees and placed the sign there.

Dr. Cem Kılıçoğlu, Associate Professor of Geographic Information Systems in the Department of Architecture and Urban Planning at Samsun University, made an evaluation regarding the landslide. Dr. Kılıçoğlu said, “The Black Sea region is a rainy area. Rain is not an abnormal situation here. Engineering and disaster planning should be done according to the worst-case scenario. Engineering studies must be done with the opinion of experts. Municipalities should prepare separate engineering projects for each region by consulting universities. Without working in the light of scientific data, risks cannot be prevented. Samsun is unfortunate in terms of slope movements. Therefore, a scientific approach is mandatory.”