Two children drown in an irrigation canal in Urfa

* Source and photo: Anadolu Agency (AA)

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Two siblings at the ages of 8 and 12 fell into an irrigation canal in southeastern Urfa province and lost their lives.

As reported by the state-run Anadolu Agency (AA), Ahmet Aslan (8), who was grazing cattle with his brother Mehmet Emin Aslan (12), fell into an irrigation canal in Haliliye district's Tepedibi neighborhood, which is some 30 kilometers away from the city center of Urfa province.

The elder brother jumped behind Ahmet Aslan to take him out of the water. Paramedic teams and diver police teams also came to the scene of the incident upon the call of the children's relatives. The teams found the deceased bodies of the children during their search in the water. Their dead bodies have been taken to the Şanlıurfa Forensic Medicine Institution.

Six children died in three days

Most recently, five children in Turkey's southern provinces of Osmaniye, Adana and Maraş drowned in irrigation canals in two days.

While three children, one in treatment at hospital, lost their lives in Osmaniye on April 26, the disabled daughter of a Syrian worker family died in Adana and an 8-year-old child died in Maraş on April 27.

After it was reported in the press that five children died by falling into irrigation canals in three provinces of Turkey within two days, an 8-year-old child was found dead in an irrigation pond in Kütahya. (AÖ/SD)