Istanbul:

A tornado ripped through a port area in Turkey’s western coastal province of Izmir overnight, flinging vehicles into the air, damaging buildings, toppling a crane and leaving 16 people injured, Turkish officials said on Friday.

A rarity in Turkey, the tornado capsized boats, uprooted trees and sent debris from buildings across parts of the Aegean tourist resort of Cesme, Ihlas news agency drone footage showed.

“In the space of just 20 seconds there was a great misfortune. We see a very sad picture. Many roofs have been blown off, vehicles lifted up and smashed to the ground. It’s unbelievable,” Izmir Mayor Tunc Soyer told reporters as he surveyed the damage.

Çeşme Alaçatı Port civarında oluşan hortumun maddi zararı büyük. AKS ekiplerimiz başta olmak üzere Büyükşehir Belediyesi tüm kurumsal gücüyle vatandaşlarımızın yanında. Dört yaralımız var. Hepsine geçmiş olsun dileklerimi iletiyorum. pic.twitter.com/V4GYXggJJ9

— Tunç Soyer (@tuncsoyer) February 11, 2021

“We also thought of these as disasters in Far East countries or Latin America, but it’s clear that climate change means these natural disasters are not far from us,” he added.

The 16 injured people were taken to hospital, including nine hurt when a crane fell on a workers at a construction site in the port area of Alacati, deputy interior minister Ismail Catakli said on Twitter.

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