One person was killed in a landslide in eastern Turkey yesterday, bringing the death toll to at least 11 as extreme weather gripped much of the country.

The landslide in Artvin province was the latest natural disaster at the weekend in Turkey, which has been battered by powerful storms that have also unleashed floods and avalanches.

An avalanche on Saturday in the eastern province of Erzurum killed a 60-year-old man and trapped four Canadian and British tourists at the Palandoken ski resort, the state-run Anatolian news agency said. The survivors dug their way out of the mass of snow and ice before rescuers arrived, it said.

Another avalanche close to the town of Dogubeyazit near the Iranian border killed seven siblings asleep in their home on Saturday, newspapers said.

Rescue workers yesterday were searching for three people who were swept away after an ice floe in floodwaters destroyed a bridge in Ardahan province, Anatolian said. In neighbouring Erzurum, two others were killed in a flood and two more missing.

Istanbul's Bosphorus strait, which links Black Sea states' oil and other exports to the world's oceans, was re-opened yesterday, maritime officials said, after it was closed the previous day due to heavy snowfall and poor visibility.

A dam in southern Turkey burst its banks and inundated the town of Silifke near the Mediterranean coast.