Mediterranean Region, Turkey

Orkut Baysal, one of the athletes of the National Paragliding Team, lost his life as two parachutes collided and fell during the landing in southwestern province of Muğla's Fethiye district.

On April 29, 30-year-old professional paraglider Orkut Baysal jumped from the 1,700-meter runway of Babadağ in Ölüdeniz neighborhood with Andaç Ünsal, whom he was currently training.

Within the scope of the works carried out by the Culture and Tourism Ministry's General Directorate of Cultural Heritage and Museums on the return of historical artifacts smuggled from Türkiye in the past, efforts are underway to return the head of the life-size bronze statue of Roman Emperor Septimius Severus from Denmark. The body of the statue has been returned from the U.S.

Earthquake survivors are seen departing from the bus terminal in the southern province of Hatay, the city most harshly affected by the Feb. 6 quakes, to the coastal cities for to the Eid holiday.

Volunteer citizens who came to the city to help after the earthquakes as well as quake survivors filled the bus terminal to start their Eid holiday.

With ongoing debris removal works, vacant areas in which buildings were located before the Feb. 6 earthquakes have turned into almost large and quiet squares in the southern province of Hatay.

With rains and thunderstorms expected to batter the country in the days ahead, the Turkish State Meteorological Service has declared a "yellow and orange alert" for 16 out of all 81 provinces, mostly in the east, while heavy rains will continue to pound Istanbul and its neighboring cities.

The historical Uzun Çarşı (Long Bazaar), one of the symbols of Hatay, has been in silence since the earthquakes on Feb. 6. The bazaar suffered great destruction and most of the workplaces were destroyed in the disaster. Now eight tradesmen opened their workplaces in the bazaar, hoping to return to good old days again.

Nearly 400 small artifacts in the Hatay Archaeology Museum, some of which got damaged during the Kahramanmaraş-centered earthquakes in February, were sent to the Kırşehir Museum for protection against aftershocks.

Approximately 150 artifacts, weighing tons, are also preserved in their own places in the museum with a method of on-site preservation.

In the case of a fake architect who worked for 42 years, the Antalya Municipality has begun to fine the companies where he worked, while samples will be taken from the structures of projects carried out by him.

A baby who was saved from the rubble in the southern province of Hatay 128 hours after the earthquake has been reunited with his mother 54 days later.

Yasemin Begdaş, the mother of the baby whom nurses named "Gizem," was rescued alive, while the baby's father and two brothers lost their lives in the deadly Feb. 6 quakes.

A baby who was rescued from under the rubble in the Kahramanmaraş earthquakes and brought to the southern province of Mersin for treatment was handed over to his parents 50 days later.

Katibe and Naser Alkhalef had just moved to the southern province of Kahramanmaraş with their three children before the devastating quakes hit the region.