UPDATE - Turkey: 7 people missing after flash floods

UPDATES WITH STATEMENT BY PROVINCIAL GOVERNORATE

By Ibrahim Yozoglu, Omer Urer and Tayyib Hosbas

DUZCE, Turkey (AA) - Search and rescue operation continued on Friday for seven people -- including four children -- who went missing following flash floods in Turkey’s northwestern Duzce province, the provincial governorate said.

A total of 219 people have so far been rescued in Cumayeri and Akcakoca districts, a governorate statement said.

The shelter needs of 135 people were met, it added.

Search operations will particularly be focused along the 21-kilometer-long (13 miles) riverbank, Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said on Thursday.

"All residents trapped in villages were rescued by helicopter. We have reached almost every region to provide food and shelter," Soylu said.

Cumayeri, a district of northwestern Duzce province, was hit late Wednesday by heavy rainfall that triggered landslides and blocked roads to villages.

*Writing by Zehra Nur Duz