Rare Tornado Strikes Turkey’s Antalya, Killing Four Workers

Four construction workers were killed early Tuesday morning when an unusual tornado struck the resort city of Antalya, Turkey. The storm, which was concentrated in a small area of the Kepez district, completely destroyed two containers used to house workers and caused a crane to collapse at the construction site.

According to reports, the four victims were inside one of the containers when the storm struck, and three of them were Syrian nationals. Another worker, who was in the second container, was injured in the incident, but his condition was described as good.

The tornado struck the site shortly after the Turkish meteorological service issued a warning of heavy rainfall. Despite the force of the storm, no damage was reported in other parts of the Kepez district or elsewhere in Antalya.

The governor of Antalya Province described the unusual circumstances of the disaster: “We are facing a highly unusual natural phenomenon, because no storm or tornado was reported anywhere else in the city. There is no damage to the neighboring structures, but we are dealing with a tornado that completely crushed two containers in this particular area.”

Tornadoes are not unheard of in Antalya and other areas along Turkey’s Mediterranean coast, but incidents resulting in fatalities are considered rare. Antalya, once a popular tourist destination among Israelis before relations with Ankara deteriorated, is scheduled to host the United Nations COP31 climate conference next month, with hundreds of delegates from various countries expected to attend.

Meanwhile, severe weather continues to affect Istanbul, Turkey’s largest city. Earlier this month, eight people were killed there in severe flooding. Overnight and into Tuesday morning, additional heavy rainfall hit the city, flooding underground passageways in numerous neighborhoods and disrupting traffic across the city.