The national judokas who survived the avalanche disaster in Palandöken recounted the moments of horror.

An avalanche disaster occurred on Mount Palandöken in Erzurum. Around 10:00 AM, an avalanche fell on the Judo National Team, which was climbing in the Sultan Sekisi area at a high altitude camp. While 16-year-old athlete Emre Yazgan lost his life from the 15-member Judo National Team, 4 athletes were injured. The injured athletes, who are being treated in the hospital, recounted the terrifying moments they experienced.

"WE WERE GOING TO TURN BACK BUT IT SUDDENLY CRACKED"

Ali Bozkurt, who is being treated at Erzurum City Hospital, stated that they had previously been to the area, saying, "When we climbed the mountain, the snow had hardened, we were actually going to turn back, but suddenly it cracked and a large mass of snow came down on us. Then we were buried under the snow, only my neck was outside. We were dragged about 400-500 meters with the incoming snow." Bozkurt, who said his health condition is good, mentioned that his friends were buried up to their necks, and one friend was completely under the snow.

"A FRIEND WAS FOUND WITH MACHINES"

Hilmi Mucik noted that 4-5 of his friends had climbed the mountain ahead, and he was about 5-10 meters behind them. Mucik expressed that he heard a shouting voice from above, saying, "All the snow on the mountain came down. I called out to my friends and we were dragged 400-500 meters with the snow. Only my head was outside; they helped and pulled me and the friends behind me out. AFAD arrived, we stayed in the snow for about 10 minutes, and we were pulled out with the help that came. But we had a hard time finding the other friend; he was quite deep under the snow and was found with machines." he said.

"WE ROLLED DOWNWARDS"

Berkay Aydın stated that the events did not leave his mind, saying, "We were climbing the mountain in a line of 5 people, we were caught in an avalanche and rolled down with the snow. Our friends rescued 4 people, we searched for one person but could not find him, then the gendarmerie and AFAD came. We had climbed this mountain before, but I experienced something like this for the first time. We went out to exercise; we were hiking." he expressed.

CHIEF PHYSICIAN: WE WILL DISCHARGE OUR INJURED

Chief Physician Assoc. Dr. İbrahim Hakkı Tör extended his wishes for a speedy recovery to Erzurum and the sports community. Tör, expressing gratitude to AFAD, the gendarmerie, and the 112 Emergency Service teams who intervened quickly in the incident, said, "The 3 injured brought to our hospital do not have major issues; they had warming problems due to cold exposure, we intervened, and they do not have fractures. One of our friends has a fracture in his tooth. We will discharge our injured during the day." he stated.