Our round up of local news snippets for the week. 

Paraglider Falls to Death

A German solo paraglider Thomas Manfred Christian (44) from Munich died on Thursday after his jump off Babadag went terribly wrong. After take off his parachute was caught by a gust of wind and it collapsed sending him falling like a rock.

The paraglider was airlifted using the fire control helicopter to Fethiye state hospital (Devlet) but later died from his injuries.

Blood Drive Down

The National Blood Bank in Ankara announced that 50% less blood was donated during Ramazan – do they really expect people who are grumpy, hungry and thirsty to continue giving blood?

Local Trek Popular

A record number of tourists, both Turkish and foreign, were seen to be walking the Lycian Way during the Bayram.  This long distance walking path, listed amongst the top ten such routes in the world, is now nine years old and apparently becoming increasingly popular during the spring and autumn walking seasons. 

Turkey Popular with Pensioners

Yet another academic survey into settled foreigners, this time emanating from Antalya University, claims pensioners live here because their pensions go further – but for how much longer with the Turkish Lira so strong and inflation at a rampant 10 – 15%?

More Road Deaths

{mosimage}Not a week goes by that we don’t report a horrendous traffic incident that is just in and around Fethiye. This week we have two stories.

A 61-year-old man was out on his bicycle around Ʃftlik delivering wedding invitations for his daughter’s wedding due to take place after the Bayram.  He set off to cross the main Dalaman road, wheeling the bike, when a car travelling way too fast hit him and dragged him until it was able to stop.  He was killed and the car driver was arrested. 

On Saturday morning a car crashes near the Devlet Hospital. Only one car was involved but as the picture shows the damage to it was extensive. We think the driver will have been lucky to have walked away from this one especially as they probably were not wearing a seat belt.

Please take care on the roads especially when they are wet.

Dialysis Duo Wed

However, this week we end on a happy note with an unusual wedding.  A 27-year-old woman from Zonguldak, with kidney disease, married a local 33-year-old man who also needs regular dialysis.  They met at a New Year’s party for patients of Fethiye’s private dialysis clinic, and visited the clinic together in their wedding finery before going to their marriage ceremony.  The woman, Ilkgül, said she had lived with her kidney problems for 23 years and never thought she would marry.