15 die in Turkey in falls from rooftops

Fifteen people have died in south-eastern Turkey after they fell from rooftops while sleeping, the state-owned Anatolia news agency reported today.

Temperatures in the south-east have recently exceeded 40C and it is not uncommon for people to sleep on their roofs in search of relief from stiflingly hot houses.

Ahmet Yildiz, chief physician at Batman State Hospital in the south-eastern town of Batman, said the hospital had treated 1,274 people – most of them children – this summer who had toppled off rooftops. Fifteen died, he told Anatolia.