No Irish people reported to have been affected

Tour operators and the Department of Foreign Affairs have said no Irish people are known to have been caught up in the earthquake…

Tour operators and the Department of Foreign Affairs have said no Irish people are known to have been caught up in the earthquake.

The epicentre of the quake in the industrial region of Izmit is between nine and 14 hours away by road from the resorts usually visited by Irish tourists, tour operators said.

"We've no reason to believe there are any Irish citizens involved. The areas hit were industrial," said a spokesman at the Department of Foreign Affairs. "The accommodation out there is not touristic."

Sunworld, Budget Travel and Falcon-JWT, the Irish companies who offer package holidays in Turkey, said their customers in Turkey were not affected by the quake.

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All 3,500 of Sunworld's Irish holidaymakers in Turkey were accounted for, said the company's managing director, Mr Seamas Glynn.

Speaking from the Turkish resort of Alanya, where he is on holiday, Mr Glynn said there was "absolutely no reason for future visitors to be concerned".

In a statement, Sunworld said: "Our information at the moment is that none of the holiday resorts which we feature are expected to be affected [by aftershocks]."

"We've had no reports of any Irish people being injured," said Ms Jacinta McGlynn, of Budget Travel. "We've about 600 people or thereabouts in the Kusadasi and Bodrum areas. They are nine hours approximately from Izmit, akin to the distance between Dublin and Paris."

The company was operating a business-as-usual policy in Turkey, she said. "Because of the distance involved, I should think that people would be safe."

Ms Roisin O'Hea, a spokeswoman for Falcon-JWT, said all the company's clients had been accounted for.

Aer Rianta said it would not anticipate cancelling charter flights to the Turkish airports of Bodrum, Antalia and Izmir.

Early yesterday, there was concern about the similarity between the name Izmir, where many Irish people arrive in Turkey, and the epicentre of the quake at Izmit, which is some nine hours away.

The Turkish ambassador to Ireland, Mr Gunaltay Sibay, said intending travellers had no reason to cancel their holidays. "Irish people generally travel to areas far to the south of the earthquake."

The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Andrews, sent a message to Mr Sibay saying that the Government "will respond positively to any request for aid" and that "the deep sympathy of the people of Ireland is with the families of those who have been killed and have lost relatives as a result of this tragedy".

The 38 Irish people living and working in Turkey who are registered with the Irish Embassy have been contacted and they are safe, a spokesman at the Department of Foreign Affairs said.

The Department estimated that about 62 other Irish people living in Turkey are not registered with the embassy. There were no reports that they had been caught up in the quake, the spokesman said yesterday evening.

Arthur Beesley

Arthur Beesley

Arthur Beesley is Current Affairs Editor of The Irish Times