Report: At least 239 children died from preventable causes in Turkey over summer

At least 239 children died from preventable causes in Turkey during June, July and August 2026, according to a report by the FİSA Child Rights Center.

The center’s briefing, titled “Violations of Children’s Right to Life in Turkey,” was compiled from local and national online media, bulletins by the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (TİHV) Documentation Center and data from the Health and Safety Labor Watch (İSİG).

The actual numbr of deaths could be higher than what the group was able to find, the report said.

Breakdown of fatalities

Of the children who died, 174 were boys and 60 were girls. The identities of five children could not be determined. Deaths were recorded in 63 provinces, with the highest numbers in Urfa, where 18 children died, followed by Antep with 12 and Diyarbakır with 10.

At least 14 children died in incidents linked to public institutions or the actions or omissions of public officials, according to the report. Five died while receiving health services, four during sports or cultural activities, three while using local government services and two while crossing borders.

FİSA recorded at least 225 additional deaths in areas where it said the state had failed to meet its obligation to prevent violations of the right to life through regulation and oversight.

Work-related incidents accounted for 44 deaths. Of those, 36 involved children who were working at the time of their deaths. Three were vocational high school students and two were participating in workplace training through Vocational Education Centers (MESEM). Five were seasonal agricultural workers, while at least four of the children who died while working were refugees.

The report separately recorded eight children who were not employed but died in incidents at workplaces where necessary safety measures had not been taken.

Another 46 children died in incidents in urban and rural outdoor areas. Forty-four drowned in dams, rivers, ponds, open bodies of water and irrigation canals, many of them operated by the State Hydraulic Works (DSİ).

The report documented multiple deaths in irrigation canals over the summer, including cases in Adana, Urfa, Kahramanmaraş, Diyarbakır, İzmir, Van and Aydın.

FİSA also recorded at least 28 deaths related to physical safety in the home and domestic accidents. Twenty children died after falling from heights, particularly from open windows and balconies. The report also recorded deaths caused by electric shocks, fires and poisoning, as well as 10 deaths categorized under “other negligence,” five of them at tourism facilities.

Traffic crashes were among the leading causes recorded in the report, accounting for 57 child deaths. The cases included children struck by vehicles and deaths involving motorcycles, bicycles, tractors and incidents inside vehicles.

At least eight children died as a result of violence. Five deaths were linked to peer violence, two were classified as child killings and one was attributed to gender-based violence. The incidents occurred in homes, among peers, in public spaces and in other parts of children’s daily lives.

FİSA also recorded at least five deaths by suicide based on the limited number of cases reported in the media.

At least four children died in incidents involving privately owned firearms. The report said the deaths occurred when licensed or unlicensed guns kept in homes discharged or when shots were fired in public spaces.

The monitoring also recorded the deaths of at least 19 migrant and refugee children. Four died in work-related incidents, three in traffic crashes, three in domestic safety incidents, two in outdoor incidents and two while crossing borders. Other deaths were categorized under fires, suspicious deaths, disasters, workplace accidents and local government services. (NÖ/VK)