Snow hinders ambulances tending to sick and wounded

Heavy snow blanketed Turkey has prevented emergency medical technicians from reaching the sick and wounded in several provinces of Turkey.

In one recent incident, a 6-month-old baby with a high temperature waited for help for seven hours due to the ambulances' difficulty reaching the house of the Ozturk family in the northern province of Ordu.

The incident occurred in Perşembe village, where the snow reached to 1.5 meters.

Ordu Metropolitan Municipality declared that teams had opened the snow-covered road for passage of ambulances trying to reach patients in 245 different incidents despite the difficulties.

In Rize, another northern province of Turkey, due to heavy snow it took medical technicians 15 hours to reach a baby who had been scalded.

The ambulance only covered 25 kilometers in more than half a day due to snow in Kalkandere town of Rize province.

In western province of Çanakkale, a 55-year-old woman who lived in a shed was found frozen to death during the heavy snow.

The heavy snows have paralyzed many provinces of Turkey for almost a week.

Schools were closed on Monday in 21 provinces of Turkey: Giresun, Batman, Sinop, Bitlis, Van, Zonguldak, Edirne, Şırnak, Bartın, Artvin, Samsun, Rize, Kırklareli, Kastamonu, Trabzon, Muş, Ordu, Yozgat, Tekirdağ, Karabük and Mardin.

The recent heavy snow affected the Marmara, Black Sea and Eastern Anatolian regions. In some provinces, the snow reached as high as 1.5 meters.