Agricultural workers’ child found dead in a puddle

* News and photo: Anadolu Agency (AA)

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Reported missing in Alaca district in Çorum province, a 13-year-old child of an agricultural worker family from Urfa province has been found dead in a puddle at the construction site of a water pipeline.

Having moved from Urfa to Çorum as seasonal agricultural workers, Kubacık family's 13-year-old son Ali Kubacık was reported missing by the family. The search and rescue efforts started after this report.

As the child could not be found with these efforts, the incident was also reported to the Provincial Directorate of Disaster and Emergency Management (AFAD), which helped the teams with the search and rescue efforts at a nearby construction site of a water distribution pipeline.

The AFAD divers got into the 3-meter deep puddle late at night (October 11). The teams found the deceased body of the child six hours after he had been reported missing. His dead body has been taken to the Ankara Forensic Medicine Institution for post mortem examination.

'53 percent de death in agricultural sector'

Occupational homicides of children are mostly concentrated in agriculture, one of the areas with the highest child employment and poor working conditions. It is known that over half of the inhabitants of the settlements where seasonal mobile agricultural workers are accommodated are children. Among them are small children that their families have to take with them.

Speaking to bianet in May 2021, Pınar Abdal from the Health and Safety Labor Watch (İSİG Assembly) explained it as follows:

"53 percent of the children who lost their lives in occupational homicides are agricultural workers. Children working in the agricultural sector lose their lives by truck and tractor accidents to reach the agricultural land, exposure to chemicals such as insecticides and pesticides, working in extremely hot and humid environments, and insect bites." (AÖ/SD)