Bodies of German fire victims returned to Turkey

The bodies of eight Turks who perished in a fire outside Stuttgart on March 10 were repatriated to Turkey today following a funeral for the victims in Germany

, Hurriyet Daily News reports.

“The pain is not only the Özcan family’s pain. It is the pain of 76 million [Turkey’s current population]. May God rest their souls,” Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdağ said after funeral prayers for the victims, a mother and seven of her children, at a local mosque. 

The victims’ bodies were brought to Turkey after the funeral in a private plane carrying Bozdağ, Forestry and Water Affairs Minister Veysel Eroğlu and bereaved relatives. The bodies are expected to be buried in the inner Aegean province of Afyonkarahisar today following a second autopsy in Istanbul.